

.//^^f 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 





DDDn31bT44 



%\)t Hiberfiioe ^literature Series; 



HE GREAT DEBATE 

EN HAYNE AND WEBSTER 

THE SPEECH 



w 



BY 



ROBERT YOUNG HAYNE 



EDITED BY 

LINDSAY SWIFT 

OF THB BOSTON PUBLIC LIBBABT 




'HTON. MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 

Park Street: New York: 11 East Seventeenth Street 
Chicago : 378-388 Wabash Avenne 



CONTENTS. 



I'AUE 
A REPRODUCTION FROM A PHOTOGRAPH OF G. P. A. HeALY's 
PAINTING OF THE GrEAT DeBATE IN FaNEUIL HaLL. 

Key TO THE Portraits in Healy's Painting. 

The Great Debate : The Occasion and the Event . 7 

Sketch of Robert Young Hayne 19 

Speech of Mk. Hayne 25 

[No. 122 of the Riverside Literature Series contains Mr. Webster's 
Speech in Rei)ly to Mr. Hayne, together with a sketch of Mr. Webster, 
a fac-simile of a page of his manuscript, and tlie stenographic report of 
the corresponding portion of the speech as actually delivered.] 



2?32 "^ 



Copyright, 1898, 
By HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN &. CO. 

All rights reserved. 



I 



The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U.i 
Klectrotyped and Printed by H. O. Huiighton and 



y' 




WEBSTER REPLYING 



TO HAVXK. IX THE SEN. 
{Painted in Paris by Gco> 



I 




PE OF THE UNITED STATES, JANUARY 26, 1830 
i Peter AUxatider Healy) 



Ar 



THE GREAT DEBATE. 

THE OCCASION AND THE EVENT. 

Although neither of the speeches m the Great Debate 
dwelt at any length on the topic which called them forth, 
it is desirable to understand something of the causes and 
occasion of such an event, possibly the most remarkable 
episode which has happened in the national Congress. 
During the first session of the Twenty-first Congress, and 
on December 29, 1829, Samuel A. Foote of Connecticut 
moved in the Senate the following resolution : — 

" Resolved, That the Committee on Public Lands be 
instructed to inquire and report the quantity of public 
lands remaining unsold within each State and Territory, 
and whether it be expedient to limit for a certain period 
the sales of the public lands to such lands only as have 
heretofore been offered for sale, and are now subject to 
entry at the minimum price. And, also, whether the 
ofl&ce of surveyor-general, and some of the land offices, may 
not be abolished without detriment to the public interest." 

It is important to notice that Mr. Foote acted on his own 
responsibility in offering this resolution ; that it was moved 
with a view to inquiry only ; and that a personal examina- 
tion of a late report of the Commissioner of the Land 
Office revealed that, -while the annual demand for public 
land would not probably exceed a million acres, the quan- 
tity remaining unsold at the minimum price was more than 
seventy-two million acres. 

Harmless as the resolution probably -was, it roused oppo- 
sition from the "West and South. Mr. Benton of Missouri 
thought that it implied an intention to harm the new West- 



8 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

ern States, while Mr. Holmes of Maine supported it as an 
important measure. After Mr. Foote had asserted that he 
held no purposes unfriendly to the Western States, there 
was a postponement of consideration until January 11, 1830. 
In the present instance the customary procrastination on 
the part of Congress resulted in a real and lasting henefit 
to the country. When the consideration was again taken 
up on January 13, it was opposed by several Western 
Senators, but on the 18th Mr. Benton spoke at length in 
opposition ; on the next day Mr. Holmes rejoined and was 
followed by other members. At this point Mr. Hayne 
entered the debate and spoke for the remainder of the 
day, and in the audience of Mr. Webster, who had come 
into the Senate from an adjournment of the Supreme 
Court, where he \vas then engaged on the imi)ortant case 
of Carver v. Jackson ex dem. Astor. The tone of Mr. 
Hayne's remarks was such that at an intimation from 
some of his friends as to the necessity of an answer by a 
Northern man, Mr. Webster, absorbed as he was with an 
important legal case, rose to reply, but made room for a 
motion to adjourn. On the next day. the 20th, the resolu- 
tion under debate was altered, as suggested by Senators 
Sprague of Maine and Woodbury of New Hampshire, by 
the addition of the following clause : " Or whether it be 
expedient to adopt measures to hasten the sales and extend 
more rapidly the surveys of the public lands." In regard 
to this matter of the public lands, brief explanations will be 
made in the form of notes to the text of the two s])eeches. 

After this modification of the original resolution Mr. 
Webster took up the debate, and defended the course of 
the government in its management of the public lands ; 
he denied that any hostility had been shown the West ; in 
particular he sought to show that New England had been 
free from an adverse spirit. It was then that he so warmly 
revived the memory of Nathan Dane as the author of the 
Ordinance of 1787, by which was organized the govern- 



THE OCCASION AND THE EVENT. 9 

ment of the Northwest Territory. As he had done before 
and as he was often to do again in his political career, 
Mr. Webster felt called upon to defend the consistency of 
his own course. Though his second speech has wellnigh 
caused his first on Foote's resolution to become faint in the 
popular memory, one passage is worthy of the great orator 
at his best, — his contrast between the Ohio of 1794 and 
that of 1830. Mr. Benton followed him on that day. On 
the 21st, Mr. Hayne began his second and famous speech, 
not. however, before he had expressed an unwillingness to 
postpone the discussion, at the request of Mr. Chambers of 
Maryland, to allow Mr. Webster to be present. In reply 
to this somewhat unusual refusal on the part of his oppo- 
nent, Mr. Webster said : " Let the discussion proceed ; I 
am ready now to receive the gentleman's fire." After Mr. 
Benton had ended his speech which he had begun the day 
before, Mr. Bell of New Hampshire moved a postponement 
until the 25th, but the motion was lost. When Mr. Hayne 
had spoken for about an hour, the Senate did adjourn 
until the 25th, which fell on Monday, and on that day he 
finished his argument in about two hours and a half. A 
motion to adjourn, to which Mr. Webster yielded, pre- 
vented the opening of his reply, \vith which he was then 
ready. On January 26 ]\Ir. Webster began his speech 
and spoke for three hours, when the Senate adjourned. 
On the following day he finished. Thereupon Mr. Hayne, 
acting with wisdom, decided to say what he had to say at 
once, and spoke for half an hour entirely on constitutional 
points. To this Mr. Webster rejoined with a close and pre- 
cise summary of his own line of reasoning. It is pleasantly 
remembered that on the evening of this eventful day the 
combatants met courteously at one of the President's 
levees in the White House, and exchanged the greetings of 
gentlemen. 

On May 21, 1830, Foote's resolution, after much discus- 
sion, from which the life had mainly departed, was indeti- 



10 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

nitely postponed. Before the topic was dismissed, however, 
it had been discussed by many of the strongest men of the 
Senate ; and the arguments, some of them very able, ranged 
from the temperate considerations of Sprague of Maine to 
the splenetic utterances of Barton of Missouri, the residuary 
legatee of John Randolph's invective. 

One element of greatness in these speeches of Hayne 
and Webster is the extreme simijlicity of each. They 
could hardly have won the place which they hold in the 
minds of all Americans had they been complex, or in any 
wise unintelligible. Both orators rose so high above the 
level of every-day politics that they saw and considered 
only the larger historical landmarks. In one especial point, 
however, the orations differ widely, Hayne, in both his 
first and second effort, introduced far more of the personal 
note. At the time, it was thought that his remarks were 
offensive, and were deliberately meant to be so, to his oppo- 
nent. Time has softened the impression, though his words 
remain unchanged. If the charge is true, it is also in a 
measure easy of explanation. If offense was given, it was 
bold and direct, and not insinuating and allusive. Mr. 
Hayne aimed at a section of the country which he thought 
was intentionally hostile to the South and its adopted ally 
the West, and he struck at New England through the per- 
sonality of Mr. Webster, who was, even then, as some one 
has said, almost an institution by himself. Mr. Webster 
was a lawyer as well as a statesman ; and his practiced skill 
taught him not only to turn the edge of his enemy's weapon, 
as he did in the use which he made of Hayne's allusion to 
Ban(j[uo's ghost, but also artfully to lift the whole discussion 
to serener heights. Webster seems never to have indulged 
in flattery toward an o]i]K)nent, but, largely throngh the 
greatness of his nature, which had in it something of the in- 
dolent, he was disposed to be tolerant, as he certainly was in 
the present instance. One sees, therefore, nothing of that 
terrible potency for denunciation in which he occasionally 



THE OCCASION AND THE EVENT. 11 

indulged, as in his defense of the Ashburton Treaty, and in 
his reply to IngersoU of Pennsylvania (1846). In another 
important attribute also the two men differed. Mr. Webster 
'^ was so fortunate as to possess a full and refreshing sense of 
humor. The tense and more nervously wrought Southerner 
lacked that powerful aid to the comprehensive intellect. 

At the outset Mr. Hayne advances to attack the attitude 
of New England toward the West; belittles the renown 
of Nathan Dane ; and then challenges the consistency of 
Webster in the latter 's course on public lands. He accuses 
the East of a mercenary standard, and rehearses the change 
of sentiment toward internal improvements and Western 
interests. He then charges Webster with unfairly contrast- 
ing the conditions of the slaveholding and the free States, 
expounds the Southern attitude regarding slavery, and 
makes a comparison between it and the poverty of the 
North. He shows the profits derived by the whole country 
from slave labor, and assails the spirit of false philanthropy 
which seeks to disturb an existing security, and explains the 
quality of the spirit of freedom at the South. He traces 
the differing theories in regard to a federal or a national 
union, and repudiates the consolidation of government. 
Sharply turning from this point, he questions Mr. Web- 
ster's change of attitude on the tariff. Perhaps in no part 
of his speech is Mr. Hayne more telling. Then follows his 
eloquent laudation of South Carolina, and of her devotion 
during the Revolution and the War of 1812. At this junc- 
ture he enters upon a prolonged criticism of the course of 
New England, and particularly of Massachusetts, during 
the events preceding and during the latter war. He cites 
speeches and sermons to substantiate his arguments, and 
closes this portion with a severe arraignment of the Hart- 
ford Convention, accusing it of treasonable projects. Inci- 
dentally he praises the democracy of New England for its 
patriotism. From this point to the end he traces the South 
Carolina doctrine of " constitutional remedy " from the Vir- 



12 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

ginia and Kentucky Resolutions and Madison's Report, 
introducing the authority of Jefferson to support his views. 
His conclusion is that the federal government is not the 
exclusive judge of the extent of its powers. 

Mr. Webster in beginning his reply calls for a reading 
of the resolution ; denies in an easy manner that he has 
been irritated by his opponent's thrusts, or that he first 
sought the contest. He then takes up the charge of coa- 
lition, in which he lightly turns the quotation from Mac- 
beth regarding Banquo's ghost back upon Mr. Hayne. 
This is followed by his tribute to Nathan Dane, and by a 
denial that he, Mr. Webster, intended to attack the insti- 
tution of slavery, though regarding it as " one of the great- 
est evils," referring, the while, to early legislation on this 
matter. He reverts to the Ordinance of 1787 and its 
exclusion of slavery from the J^orthwest Territory ; then 
defends his own consistency and that of New England in 
regard to the public lands, and discusses at some length 
the policy of internal improvements and of national develop- 
ment, and shows that New England has supported mea- 
sures favorable to the West. His own course in regard to 
the various tariffs next receives attention, but a willingness 
to drop this matter is jilainly shown. As to charges against 
New England, he seeks to prove that such attitude as was 
open to criticism there, as well as elsewhere, was partisan 
rather than sectional. He denies the charge that he has 
attacked South Carolina, and proceeds to eulogize the 
memory of distinguished sons of that State. This portion 
of his speech is rounded out with the famous apostrophe to 
Massachusetts. From this point to the end he proclaims 
his defense of the Constitution, and traces the origin of 
our government and the source of its power, and contrasts 
the opposition in New England before and during the War 
of 1812 with the present attitude of South Carolina. He 
differentiates the power of the States and that of the Union ; 
denies the com])etency of the States to decide the validity 



THE OCCASION AND THE EVENT. 13 

of laws ; portrays an hypothetical case of resistance by 
South Carolina, and its mo<his ojjerandi. Then he exhibits 
the legitimate remedies for imperfections in the Constitu- 
tion, but denies all right to nullify its provisions. In con- 
clusion follow his exhortation for the preservation of the 
Union and the closing adjuration for Liberty and Union. 

In this speech he carried out a threefold purpose : first, 
in a dignified and yet good-humored way, to turn aside Mr. 
Hayne's personalities from himself; second, to introduce 
a more serious note into his defense of the East ; and, 
third, advancing to his highest position, to proclaim, as he 
had never done before, his full creed as to the powers of 
the Constitution. There are various legends in regard to 
the anxiety felt by his friends lest he did not fuUy realize 
the gravity of the task before him, knowing that it devolved 
upon him, with only slight preparation, to sustain an attack, 
carefully preconcei-ted, of which the gallant and impetuous 
Hayne represented only the vanguard. His preparation 
certainly was slight and the time short, but Mr. Webster, 
like most great men, was able to compensate for long inaction 
by incredible swiftness at a push. Even then he could not 
have compassed his purpose had not this tremendous effort 
been the successful birth of ideas which had long been 
gestating in his fertile and comprehensive intellect. 

Mr. Hayne, on the other hand, seems to have relied 
on a few lines of thought, derived mainly from Burke's 
speeches, Mathew Carey's political writings, the reputed 
doings of the Hartford Convention, the familiar text of the 
Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, and Mr. Jefferson's 
and Mr. Madison's views on the Constitution. The chief 
merit of Hayne's speech lies, then, in the great spirit, cour- 
age, and conviction of its author. There can be no fair 
contrast between these two speeches ; it was a contest be- 
tween a very able man and a preeminently great one. 

The debate was held in the old senate chamber, after- 
ward used by the Supreme Court. The memorable event 



14 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

was made the subject of an historical painting, of heroic 
size, by Mr. George P. A. Healy, which now hangs in 
Faneuil Hall in Boston. Over one hundred faces are ac- 
curately represented in this impressive work. 

In regard to the scene and the occasion much has been 
written, including several contemporary accounts, but the 
vivacious description by Charles W. March, in his " Daniel 
Webster and his Contemporaries," has come to be regarded 
as embodying, on the whole, the most graphic pen-picture 
extant. Certain portions of this description here follow, 
but it should be read in its entirety in Mr. March's volume. 

" Those who had doubted Mr. Webster's ability to cope 
with and overcome his opponents were fully satisfied of 
their error before he had proceeded far in his speech. 
Their fears soon took another direction. When they heard 
his sentences of powerful thought, towering in accumula- 
tive gi'andeur one above the other, as if the orator strove, 
Titan-like, to reach the very heavens themselves, they were 
giddy with an apprehension that he would break down in 
his flight. They dared not believe that genius, learning, 
any intellectual endowment however uncommon, that was 
simply mortal, could sustain itself long in a career seem- 
ingly so perilous. They feared an Icarian fall. 

'' Ah ! who can ever forget, that was present to bear, 
the tremendous, the awful burst of eloquence with which 
the orator spoke of the Old Bay State ! or the tones of 
deep pathos in which the words were pronounced ! 

" What New Enoland heart was there but throbbed with 
vehement, tumultuous, irrepressible emotion as he dwelt 
upon New England sufferings. New England struggles, 
and New England triumphs during the War of tlie Revo- 
lution ? There was scarcely a dry eye in the Senate ; all 
hearts were overcome ; grave judges and mfen grown old 
in dijrnified life turned aside their heads to conceal the 
evidences of their emotion. 

" In one corner of the gallery was clustered a group of 



THE OCCASION AND THE EVENT. 15 

Massachusetts men. They had hung from the first moment 
upon the words of the speaker, with feelings variously but 
always warmly excited, deepening in intensity as he pro- 
ceeded. At first, while the orator was going through his 
exordium, they held their breath and hid their faces, mind- 
ful of the savage attack upon him and New England, and 
the fearful odds against him, her champion ; as he went 
deeper into his speech they felt easier ; when he turned 
Hayne's flank on Banquo's ghost, they breathed freer and 
deeper. But now, as he alluded to Massachusetts, their 
feelings were strained to the highest tension ; and when 
the orator, concluding his encomium upon the land of their 
birth, turned, intentionally or otherwise, his burning eye 
full upon them, they shed tears like girls ! 

" No one who was not present can understand the excite- 
ment of the scene. No one, who was, can give an ade- 
quate description of it. No word-painting can convey the 
deep, intense enthusiasm, the reverential attention, of that 
vast assembly, nor limner transfer to canvas their earnest, 
eager, awe-struck countenances. Though language were 
as subtile and flexible as thought, it still would be impos- 
sible to represent the full idea of the scene. There is 
something intangible in an emotion which cannot be trans- 
ferred. The nicer shades of feeling elude pursuit. Every 
description, therefore, of the occasion seems to the narrator 
himself most tame, spiritless, unjust. 

" Much of the instantaneous effect of the speech arose, 
of course, from the orator's delivery, — the tones of his 
voice, his countenance and manner.^ These die mostly 

^ " The personal appearance of Mr. Webster has been a theme of 
frequent discussion. Time had not thinned nor bleached his hair: 
it was as dark as the raven's plumage, surmounting' his massive brow 
in ample folds. His eyes, always dark and deep-set, enkindled by 
some glowing thought, shone from beneath his sombre, overhanging 
brow like lights, in the blackness of night, from a sepulchre. It was 
such a countenance as Salvator Rosa delighted to paint. 

" No one understood, or understands, better than Mr. Webster the 



16 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

with the occasion that calls them forth ; the impression 
is lost in the attempt at transmission from one mind to 
another. They can only be described in general terms. 
'Of the effectiveness of Mr. Webster's manner in many 
parts,' says Mr. Everett, 'it would be in vain to attempt 
to give any one not present the faintest idea. It has been 
my fortune to hear some of the ablest speeches of the great- 
est living orators on both sides of the water, but I must 
confess I never heard anything which so completely real- 
ized my conception of what Demosthenes was when he de- 
livered the Oiation for the Crown.' 

" The exulting rush of feeling with which he went 
through the peroration threw a glow over his countenance 
like inspiration. Eye, brow, each feature, every line of the 
face, seemed touched as with a celestial fire. All gazed 
as at something moi'e than human. So Moses might have 
appeared to the awe-struck Israelites as he emerged from 
the dark clouds and thick smoke of Sinai, his face all ra- 
diant with the breath of divinity ! 

" The swell and roll of his voice struck upon the ears of 
the spell-bound audience, in deep and melodious cadence, 
as waves upon the shore of the ' far-resounding ' sea. The 
Miltonic grandeur of his words was the fit expression of 
his thought and raised his hearers up to his theme. His 
voice, exerted to its utmost power, peneti'ated every recess 
or corner of the Senate, — penetrated even the ante-rooms 
and stairways as he pronounced in deepest tones of jiathos 
these words of solemn significance. 

" The speech was over, but the tones of the orator still 
lingered upon the ear, and the audience, unconscious of the 

pliilosophy of dress, — what a powerful auxiliary it is to speech and 
manner wlien liarmonizing with them. On this occasion he appeared 
in a blue coat and buff vest, — the Rerolutionai y colors of buff and 
blue, — with a white cravat ; a costume than which none is more 
becoming- to his face and expression. This courtly particularity of 
dress adds no little to the influence of his manner and appearance." 
(March.) 



THE OCCASION AND THE EVENT. 17 

close, retained their positions. The agitated countenance, 
the heaving breast, the suffused eye attested the continued 
influence of the spell upon them. Hands that in the 
excitement of the moment had sought each other, still re- 
mained closed in an unconscious grasp. Eye still turned 
to eye, to receive and repay mutual sympathy, and every- 
where around seemed forgetfulness of all but the orator's 
presence and words. 

" When the Vice-President, hastening to dissolve the 
spell, angrily called to order ! order ! there never was a 
deeper stillness — not a movement, not a gesture had been 
made, not a whisper uttered, — order ! Silence could 
almost have heard itself, it was so supernaturally still. 
The feeling was too overpowering to allow expression by 
voice or hand. It was as if one was in a trance, all motion 
paralyzed. 

'^ But the descending hammer of the Chair awoke them 
with a start, and with one universal, long-drawn, deep 
breath, with which the overcharged heart seeks relief, the 
crowded assembly broke up and departed." 

The excitement which prevailed when it was known that 
Webster would reply to Hayne was not confined to Wash- 
ington. According to an interesting tradition which is worth 
recalling though perhaps not accepting, the Providence 
papers showed the most enterprise. It was determined that 
if the weather was favorable, in addition to the relay of 
horses, the Providence papers were to take advantage of the 
quiet waters on Long Island Sound and place on board a 
steamer frames and cases and type and compositors. The 
water proved to be remarkably calm, and on arriving at 
Providence the speech was in type, set up on the passage, 
ready for proving and correcting, 'and of course was pub- 
lished in an " extra " immediately. Of this legend the 
editor finds no verification. It is probably a variant of a 
story told of Henry J. Raymond. In 1843 Raymond re- 
ported a speech by Webster, delivered at Boston in the 



18 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

afternoon, and had the type set up on board the night boat 
for New York ; the next morning the speech appeared in 
full in the " Tribune." 

Mr. Hayne was in his thirty-ninth and Mr. Webster in 
his forty-ninth year at the time of the Great Debate. It 
is worthy of note that Webster calls his reply *' No. 1 
among my political efforts." (" Private Correspondence," 
ii. 415.) 



SKETCH OF ROBERT YOUNG HAYNE. 

Robert Young Hayne was born in St. Paul's parish, 
Colleton district, South Carolina, November 10, 1791 ; he 
died at Asheville, North Carolina, September 24, 1839, 
while attending a convention there, as president of the 
Cincinnati and Charleston Railroad. 

His career was typical of the best sort of Southern men 
of his day, determined by a chivalrous love for his country 
and his State, and by unselfish efforts to further their best 
interests. Into the forty-eight years of his life was crowded 
a succession of demands upon his courage, prudence, and 
wisdom that severely tested his moral and intellectual re- 
sources, and to none of them did he fail to respond. Edu- 
cated in Charleston, he afterward studied and practiced 
law there, having been admitted to the bar eight days 
before his twenty-first birthday. A well-known anecdote 
of Hayne gives a hint of at least one factor in the devel- 
opment of his character. Judge Cheves, with whom he 
studied law, being forced to abandon his legal practice 
upon his election to Congress, left his large business in the 
hands of this young pupil. When the latter expressed 
some doubt as to his ability to carry on so responsible a 
work, the judge said, '• My young friend, never distrust 
yourself." Mr. Hayne is believed to have acted from that 
time upon this advice, and we may readily believe it ; for 
only this self-confidence, — which was far removed from 
self-conceit, — combined with an unusually accurate know- 
ledge of his own intellectual powers, could have carried him 
so well through emergencies which seldom come to any but 
the greatest men. 

During the War of 1812 he served as captain in the 



20 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

third Soutli Carolina regiment, and at about this time he 
married Miss Frances Pinckney, who died in 1818. Miss 
Rebecca B. Alston became his wife two years later, and sur- 
vived him. From 1814 to 1818 he was a member of the 
legislature of the State, and during the last year of that 
time he served as Speaker of the House. A characteristic 
story is that which relates his preparation for entering upon 
the duties of the last-named office. His election to the 
speakership was unexpected, and he felt his knowledge of 
parliamentary rules to be quite inadequate to the accept- 
able i)erformance of the duties of the position. The House 
having adjourned on the first day of the session after its 
organization, Mr. Hayne borrowed from a friend a cojjy of 
Jefferson's '' Manual " for the night, and the next day his 
ability as a piesiding officer was unquestioned. General 
McDuffie quotes him as saying on this occasion, " I have 
always found that good sense and a firm ])urpose, with com- 
petent general education, qualify a man for anything." 

From 1818 to 1823 he held the attorney-generalship 
of South Carolina, an office which he abandoned only to 
take his seat in the Senate of the United States. It was a 
peculiarly significant call at this crisis, when South Carolina 
was striving to defeat the purpose of Congress to impose a 
protective tariff". In common with the rest of the South, 
South Carolina believed that she could hojje to avert this 
catastrophe only through the influence and eloquence of her 
ablest men. Hayne was barely old enough to take his seat, 
but from the first he ranged himself with the op])osition to 
the tariff, and unhesitatingly and unremittingly denied the 
constitutional power of Congress to impose duties on im})orts 
for the purpose of protecting American manufactures. 

Mr. Hayne's debate with Webster was his first important 
speech in the Senate. Accoi'ding to March, he had oc- 
casionally addressed the Senate, and displayed qualities of 
mind which seemed to justify all previous encomiums. He 
was, too, personally poi)ular, — an advantage of no incon- 



SKETCH OF ROBERT YOUNG HAYNE. 21 

siderable nature in whatever contest or undertaking a man 
is engaged with liis fellows. Colonel Hayne deserved his 
popularity. He had a courteous and frank address, con- 
ciliatory manners and deportment. He was high-minded 
and sincere ; easy and agreeable in conversation ; of gi'eat 
vivacity of intellect, and mercurial talent. 

" Hayne dashed into debate, like the Mameluke cavalry 
upon a charge. There was a gallant air about him that 
could not but win admiration. He never provided for 
retreat ; he never imagined it. He had an invincible con- 
fidence in himself, which arose partly from constitutional 
temperament, partly from previous success. . . . His ora- 
tory was graceful and persuasive. An impassioned man- 
ner, somewhat vehement at times, but rarely if ever 
extravagant; a voice well modulated and clear; a distinct 
though rapid enunciation ; a confident but not often offen- 
sive address : these, accompanying and illustrating language 
well selected and periods well turned, made him a popular 
and effective speaker. . . . 

" Colonel Hayne was, incontestably, the most formidable 
of Mr. Webster's opponents. He had more native and 
acquired ability than any of them. Such is the concurrent 
opinion of all who witnessed this great forensic contest ; 
among others, of the Hon. Mr. Everett of Massachu- 
setts." ^ 

His speech, delivered January 9, 1832, in opposition to 
Clay's proposal that duties should be repealed on all im- 
ported articles which did not come into competition with 
American manufactures, contains strong arguments for free 
trade which have done duty ever since. Hayne's amend- 
ment to Clay's resolution provided for the reduction of 
duties to a revenue standard, " allowing a reasonable time 
for the gradual reduction of the present high duties on the 
articles coming into competition with similar articles made 
or produced within the United States." But the tariff act 

^ Daniel Webster and his Contemporaries, by C. W. March. 



22 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

of 1832 was passed; and the legislature of South Caro- 
lina, in response to an appeal from Hayne and his fellow- 
congressmen, called a sovereign convention of the people, 
which, on November 24, 1832, adopted the Ordinance of 
Nullification, reported by Hayne as chairman of the com- 
mittee of twenty-one. 

Hayne resigned his seat in the Senate shortly afterward 
to take the governorship of South Carolina at a time when 
civil war seemed imminent if not inevitable. His belief in 
the justice of South Carolina's cause held him firmly to a 
purpose from the possible consequences of which his whole 
nature recoiled, but he saw no honorable alternative. He 
only affirmed that the United States must strike the first 
blow ; then South Carolina would not flinch. During the 
interval between the passing of the Ordinance and Clay's 
consent to a compromise act which virtually granted 
Hayne's original demand. General Jackson issued his Nul- 
lification Proclamation, to which Hayne, at the request of 
the legislature, responded by a counter-proclamation. The 
compromise was accepted, and on March 11, 1833, South 
Carolina called another convention and repealed the Nulli- 
fication Ordinance. 

Hayne's term of office as governor expired in 1834, and 
he was then chosen the first mayor (intendant) of Charles- 
ton, an office which he administered with his usual energy 
and firmness. His natural business ability was unusual, 
and his varied experiences had strengthened his grasp in 
this direction, so that, having instigated and encouraged 
the formation of the Louisville, Cincinnati, and Charleston 
Railroad Company, he was naturally chosen as its president. 
This was in January, 1837, and he was forced to resign his 
position as mayor in order to accept it. 

He became deei)ly interested in the growing problems of 
conmmnicationand transjiortation, and advocated, among 
otlier things, the establishment of direct commercial inter- 
course between the Southern ports and Europe ; and it was 



SKETCH OF ROBERT YOUNG HAYNE. 23 

while devoting his organizing ability to the development of 
the material interests of the South that he was attacked by 
a bilious fever, from which he died after a ten days' illness. 
His body, temporarily interred at Asheville, was afterwards 
taken to Charleston. 

Mr. Hayne's character was singularly harmonious. Gen- 
eral George McDuffie in his " Eulogy upon the Life and 
Character of the late Robert Y. Hayne," delivered at the 
request of the citizens of Charleston, says : " It is not so 
much by any one faculty standing out in prominent relief, 
as by the admirable adjustment of all his moral and intel- 
lectual qualities that he was distinguished from other men." 
He was not a great man, and yet he was not without some 
of the qualities of greatness. Like all versatile men he did 
many things well, but nothing supremely well. His gifts 
as a lawyer made him an admirable attorney-general ; a 
certain innate quickness in grasping the essentials of a 
subject, and a naturally fluent and lucid speech easily 
gained him a high place as a parliamentary debater ; his 
coolness and tirniness at critical moments indicated him 
as a leader in troublous times ; and his practical sense and 
judgment in business affairs rendered it difficult not to 
choose him to head a new and important enterprise of that 
nature. His uncompromising character stood out in violent 
contrast to Clay, who was, as Carl Schurz says, '' a natural 
compromiser." And this was singularly noticeable at a 
time when compromise was almost the watchword of the 
hour. His enthusiasms, controlled in the main by the 
judgment of a disciplined mind, produced that balance 
which distinguishes the statesman from the politician. 

He was, perhaps, one of the men to be loved rather than 
venerated, and the tribute of affection has been generously 
showered upon him and upon his memory. 



^ 



SPEECH OF MR. HAYNE 

IN THE SENATE, ON MR. FOOTE'S RESOLUTION, 
Thursday, Januaky 21, ahv Monday, January 25, 1830. 

When I took occasion, Mr. President, two days 
ago, to throw out some ideas with respect to the policy 
of the government in relation to the public lands, 
nothing certainly could have been further from my 
thoughts than that I should be compelled again to 
throw myself upon the indulgence of the Senate, 
yliittle did I expect to be called upon to meet such an 
argument as was yesterday urged by the gentleman 
from Massachusetts [Mr. Webster]. Sir, I questioned 
no "man's opinions, 1 impeached no man's motives, I 
charged no party, or State, or section of country with 
hostility to any other ; but ventured, I thought in a 
becoming spirit, to put forth my own sentiments in 
relation to a great national question of public policy. 
Such was my course. The gentleman from Missouri 
[Mr. Benton], it is true, had charged upon the East- 
ern States an early and continued hostility toward the 
West, and referred to a number of historical facts 
and documents in support of that charge. Now, sir, 
how have these different argiunents been met? The 
honorable gentleman from Massachusetts, after delib- 
erating a whole night upon his course, comes into this 
chamber to vindicate New England ; and, instead of 
making up his issue with the gentleman from ]\Iis- 
souri on the charges which he had preferred, chooses 



26 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

to consider me as the author of those charges, and, 
losing sight entii-ely of that gentleman, selects me as 
his adversaiy and pours out all the vials of his mighty 
wrath upon my devoted head. Nor is he willing to 
stop there. He goes on to assail the institutions and 
policy of the South, and calls in question the prin- 
ciples and conduct of the State which I have the 
honor to represent. When I find a gentleman of 
mature age and experience, of acknowledged talents 
and profound sagacity, pursuing a course like this, 
declining the contest from the West and making war 
upon the unoffending South, I must believe, I am 
bound to believe, he has some object in view that he 
has not ventured to disclose. Mr. President, why is 
this? Has the gentleman discovered in former con- 
troversies with the gentleman from Missouri that he 
is overmatched by that Senator ? And does he hope 
for an easy victory over a more feeble adversary? 
Has the gentleman's distempered fancy been disturbed 
by gloomy forebodings of " new alliances to be 
formed," at which he hinted ? Has the ghost of the 
murdered Coalition ^ come back, like the ghost of 
Banquo, to "sear the eyeballs"'-^ of the gentleman, 
and will it not "down at his bidding"? Are dark 

^ Tlie coalition or bargain alleged to have been made between 
John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay, by which Adams was 
chosen to the presidency and Clay became Secretary of State. 
No one seriously believes this charge now, but it dogged the 
career of Clay, and was instrumental in keeping him from the 
presidency. Carl Schnrz, in his Henry Clay, vol. i. (American 
Statesmen Series), tolls the story concisely. Clay's duel with 
John Ilandolph arose from the charge of a combination pre- 
ferred by the latter in his speech on the President's message in 
182G. 

- A reference to Shakespeare's Macbeth, act iv., scene 1, line 
113. 



SPEECH OF MR. HAYNE. 27 

visions of broken hopes and honors lost forever still 
floating before his heated imagination ? Sir, if it be 
his object to thrust me between the gentleman from 
Missouri and himself, in order to rescue the East 
from the contest it has provoked with the West, he 
shall not be gratified. Sir, I will not be dragged into 
the defense of my friend from Missouri. The South 
shall not be forced into a conflict not its own. The 
gentleman from Missouri is able to fight his own 
battles. The gallant West needs no aid from the 
South to repel any attack which may be made on 
them from any quarter. Let the gentleman from 
Massachusetts controvert the facts and arguments of 
the gentleman from Missouri if he can ; and if he win 
the victory, let him w ear its honors ; I shall not de- 
prive him of his laurels. 

The gentleman from Massachusetts, in reply to ray 
remarks on the injurious operations of our land system 
on the prosperity of the West, pronounced an extrava- 
gant eulogium on the paternal care which the govern- 
ment had extended toward the West, to which he 
attributed all that was great,, and excellent in the 
present condition of the new States. The language 
of the gentleman on this topic fell upon my ears like 
the almost forgotten tones of the Tory leaders of the 
British Parliament at the commencement of the Ameri- (^ 
can Revolution. They, too, discovered that the colo- 
nies had grown great under the fostering care of the 
mother country ; and I must confess, while listening 
to the gentleman, I thought the appropriate reply to 
his aro'ument was to be found in the remark of a cele- 
brated orator, made on that occasion : " They have 
grown great in spite of your protection." ^ 

1 This is an adaptation rather than a quotation from Colonel 



28 THE GllEAT DEBATE. 

The gentleman, in commenting on the policy of 
the government in relation to the new States, has 
introduced to our notice a certain Nathan Dane ^ of 
]\Iassachusetts, to whom he attributes the celebrated 
Ordinance of '87,^ by which he tells us " slavery was 
forever excluded from the new States north of the 
Ohio." After eulogizing the wisdom of this provision 
in terms of the most extravagant praise, he breaks 
forth in admiration of the greatness of Nathan Dane ; 
and great indeed he must be, if it be true, as stated 

Barrd's speech on the Stamp Act, in the conrse of which he 
said, "Tliey noniished by your indulgence! They grew by 
your neglect of them ! " 

1 Tlie animus shown by Hayne against Nathan Dane was due 
to the provision in the Ordinance of 1787 which excluded " slav- 
ery and involuntary servitude " from the Northwest Territory. 
Dune was the framer of this Ordinance. He held numerous 
public offices, but he is best remembered as founder of the Dane 
professorship in the Harvard Law School. On three several 
occasions he was employed by his native State on the revision 
of laws, charters, and statutes. His most important work is A 
General Abridgment and Digest of American Law. He was born 
in Ipswich, ^lassachusetts, in 1752, graduated at Harvard Col- 
lege in 1778, and received the degree of LL. D. from that insti- 
tution. He died in Beverly in 1835. Dane's own view of the 
Ordinance of 1787 is given in a letter to Webster. {Proceedings 
of Maasockuselts Historical Societi/, 1807-69, pp. 475-80.) 

- " An ordinance for the government of tlie territory of the 
United States northwest of the river Ohio" was reported in 
1787 to the Continental Congress. It provided, among other 
matters, for the immediate abolition of slavery in the Territory, 
wherein it dilVerr<l Irom -letterson's plan known as the Ordi- 
nance of 1784, wbicli it hirgcly followed. The reason for its 
adoption lay in the fact that, containing a jjrovisiou for the re- 
turn of fugitive slaves, it did not encounter Southern opposition. 
Tills territory included the area east of tlie Mississippi, west of 
Pennsylvania, and north of the Ohio Kivci-. cedsd to Congress 
bv Virginia, New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. 



SPEECH OF MR. HAYNE. 29 

by the Senator from Massacliusetts, that '' he was 
greater than Solon and Lvcurgus, Minos, Numa Pom- 
pilius, and all the legislators and philosophers of the 
world," ancient and modern. ^ Sir, to such high 
authority it is certainly my duty, in a becoming spirit 
of humility, to submit. And yet the gentleman wall 
pardon me when I say that it is a little unfortunate 
for the fame of this great legislator that the gentleman 
from ^Missouri should have proved that he was not 
the author of the Ordinance of '87,^ on which the 
Senator from Massachusetts has reared so glorious a 
monument to his name. Sir, I doubt not the Senator 
will feel some compassion for our ignorance when I 
tell him that so little are we acquainted with the 
modern great men of New England that, until he 
informed us yesterday that we possessed a Solon and 
a Lvcurgus in the person of Nathan Dane, he was 
only known to the South as a member of a celebrated 
assembly called and known by the name of the " Hart- 
ford Convention." ^ In the proceedings of that assem- 

' Webster, in his first speech on Foote's resohition {Works, 
1853, vol. iii. p. 2G3), says : " We help to perpetuate the fame 
of Solon and Lvcurgus ; but 1 doubt whether one single law of 
any lawgiver, ancient or modern, has produced effects of more 
distinct, marked, and lasting character." 

2 In answer to Benton on this matter, Webster said in his 
second speech, " It so happened that he [Dane] drew the Ordi- 
nance of 1787," — making no further defense of his assertion. 

8 Twenty-six rejn-esentatives from Massachusetts, Connecti- 
cut, and Rhode. Island, and from two counties in New Hamp- 
shire and one in Vermont, met at Hartford, Connecticut, on 
December 15, 1814, and adjourned January 5, 1815. This con- 
vention was an open expression of dissatisfaction on tlic part 
of the Federalists of New England with the War of ISl'J, in 
which that section of the country had taken little part. To this 
day an impression exists that the convention was treasonable in 



/ 



30 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

bly, which I hold in my hand (at page 19)/ will be 
found, in a few lines, the history of Nathan Dane ; 
and a little further on there is conclusive evidence of 
that ardent devotion to the interest of the new States 
which, it seems, has given him a just claim to the title 
of " Father of the West." By the second resolution 
of the " Hartford Convention " it is declared " that it 
is expedient to attempt to make provision for restrain- 
ing Congress in the exercise of an unlimited poVer to 
make new States and admit them into this Union." 
So much for Nathan Dane of Beverly, Massachusetts. 
In commenting upon my views in relation to the 
public lands, the gentleman insists that, it being one 
of the conditions of the grants that these lands should 
be applied to " the common benefit of all the States, 
they must always remain a fund for revenue ; " and 
adds, "they must be treated as so much treasure." 
Sir, the gentleman could hardly find language strong 
enough to convey his disapprobation of the policy 
which I had ventured to recommend to the favorable 
consideration of the country. And what, sir, was that 
policy, and what is the difference between that gentle- 
man and myself on this subject? I threw out the 
idea that the public lands ought not to be reserved 
forever as " a great fund for revenue : ' that they 
ought not to be treated " as a great treasure ; " but 
that the course of our policy should rather be directed 
toward the creation of new States, and building up 
great and flourishino- communities. 

its piu'poscs, and intoiulcd to dissolve the Union. It is true that 
grievances were phiinly expressed and changes urged in the 
Constitution. These changes were to he proposed by a conven- 
tion of all the States, to wliich the Hartford Convention was 
jireliniinary. 

' Tlic reference is to Lyman's Short Account of the Hartford 
Convention. 



SPEECH OF MR. HAYNE. 31 

Now, sir, \\\\\ it be believed, by those who now hear 
me, and who listened to the gentleman's denunciation 
of my doctrines yesterday, that a book lay open before 
him, — nay, that he held it in liis hand and read from 
it certain passages of his own speech delivered to the 
House of Representatives in 1825, in which speech he 
himself contended for the very doctrines I had advo- 
cated, and almost in the very same terms ? Here is the 
speech of the Hon. Daniel Webster, contained in the 
first volume of Gales and Seaton's " Register of De- 
bates" (page 251), delivered in the House of Rej^re- 
sentatives on the 18th of January, 1825, in a debate on 
the Cumberland Road,^ — the very debate from which 
the Senator read yesterday. I shall read from the cele- 
brated sj^eech two passages from which it will appear 
that, both as to the past and the future policy of the 
government in relation to the public lands, the gentle- 
man from Massachusetts maintained in 1825 substan- 
tially the same opinions which I have advanced, but 
which he now so strongly reprobates. I said, sir, that 
the system of credit sales by which the West had 
been kept constantly in debt to the United States, 
and by which their wealth was drained off to be ex- 
pended elsewhere, had operated injuriously on their 
prosperity. On this point the gentleman from jMassa- 
chusetts in January, 1825, expressed himself thus : 
" There could be no doubt, if gentlemen looked at the 

^ The Ciiniberlancl or National Road was first projected from 
Cumberland, Maryland, to the Ohio River, but was extended as 
far as Illinois. From 1806 to 1838, as many as sixty bills were 
passed regarding its establishment, maintenance, and extension, 
the total appropriations amounting to nearly .'?7,000,000. The 
constitutionality of an act of Congress tiuis to provide for an 
internal improvement was vigorously denied, and Monroe vetoed 
one bill in 1822 which provided for repairing the road. 



32 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

money received into the Treasury from the sale of the 
public lands to the West, and then looked to the 
whole amount expended by government (even includ- 
ing the whole amount of what was laid out for the 
army), the latter must be allowed to be very incon- 
siderable, and there must be a constant drain of 
money from the West to pay for the public lands. It 
might indeed be said that this was no more than the 
refluence of capital which had previously gone over 
the mountains. Be it so. Still its practical effect 
was to produce inconvenience, if not distress, by ab- 
sorbing the money of the people." 

I contended that the public lands ought not to be 
treated merely as " a fund for revenue : '" that they 
ouffht not to be hoarded " as a q:reat treasure." On 
this point the Senator expressed himself thus : Govern- 
ment, he believed, had received eighteen or twenty mil- 
lions of dollars from the public lands, and it was with 
the greatest satisfaction he adverted to the change 
which had been introduced in the mode of paying for 
them ; yet he could never think the national domain 
was to be regarded as any great source of revenue. The 
great object of the government, in respect to these 
lands, was not so much the money derived from their 
sale as it was the getting them settled. What he 
meant to say was, he did not think they ought to hug 
that domain as a great treasure which was to enrich 
the exchequer. 

Now, Mr. President, it will be seen that the very 
doctrines which the gentleman so indiguantlv abau- 
dons were urged by liim in 1825 ; and if I had ac- 
tually borrowed my sentiments from those which he 
then avowed, I could not have followed more closely 
in his footsteps. Sir, it is only since the gentleman 



SPEECH OF MR. HAYNE. 33 

qiK^ted this book, yt'sterday. that my attention has 
been turned to the sentiments lie expressed in 1825 : 
and if 1 had remembered them, I might possibW have 
been deterred from uttering sentiments here which, it 
might well be supposed, I had borrowed from that 
gentleman. 

In 1825 the gentleman told the worhl that the pub- 
lie lands •* ought not to be treated as a treasure." He 
now tells us that " they must be treated as so much a 9 
treasure." What the deliberate opinion of the gen- 
tleman on this subject may be, belongs not to me to 
determine ; but I do not think he can, with the shadow 
of justice or proprietj% impugn my sentiments, while 
his own recorded opinions are identical with my own. 
When the gentleman refers to the conditions of the 
grants under wdiich the United States have acquired 
these lands, and insists that, as they are declared to 
be " for the connnon benefit of all the States," they 
can only be treated as so much treasure, I think he 
has applied a rule of construction too narrow for the 
case. If, in the deeds of cession, it has been declared 
that the grants were intended " for the common benefit 
of all the States," it is clear, from other provisions, that 
they were not intended merely as so much property ; 
for it is expressly declared that the object of tlie grants 
is the erection of new States ; and the United States, 
in accepting this trust, bind themselves to facilitate 
the foundation of those States, to be admitted into the 
Union with all the rights and privileges of the original 
States. 

This, sir, was the great end to which all parties 
looked, and it is by the fulfillment of this high trust 
that '• the common benefit of all the States " is to be 
best promoted. Sir, let me tell the gentleman that in 



34 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

the part of the country in which I live we do not 
measure political benefits by the money standard. We 
consider as more valuable than gold, liberty, principle, 
and justice. But, sir, if we are bound to act on the 
narrow principles contended for by the gentleman, I 
am wholly at a loss to conceive how he can reconcile 
his principles with his own practice. The lands are, 
it seems, to be treated " as so much treasure," and 
must be applied to the " common benefit of all the 
States." Now, if this be so, whence does he derive 
the right to appropriate tliem for partial and local 
objects ? How can the gentleman consent to vote away 
immense bodies of these lands for canals in Indiana 
and Illinois, to the Louisville and Portland Canal,^ 
to Kenyon College in Ohio, to schools for the deaf 
and dumb, and other objects of a similar description ? 
If grants of this character can fairlv be considered as 
made " for the common benefit of all the States," it 
can only be because all the States are interested in 
the welfare of each, — a principle which, carried to the 
full extent, destroys all distinction between local and 
national objects, and is certainly broad enough to 
embrace the principles for which I have ventured to 
contend. Sir, the true difference between us I take 
to be this : the gentleman wishes to treat the public 
lands as a great treasure, just as so much money in 
the treasury, to be applied to all objects, constitu- 
tional and unconstitutional, to which the public money 
is now constantly a]>plied. I consider it as a sacred 
trust which we ought to fulfill on the principles for 
which I have contended. 

The Senator from Massachusetts has thought proper 
to present, in strong contrast, the friendly feelings of 
' Incorporated January 12, 1825. 



SPEECH OF MR. HA YNE. 35 

the East toward the West, with sentiments of an op- 
posite character displayed by the South in relation to 
appropriations for internal improvement. Now, sir, 
let it be recollected that the South have made no pro- 
fessions (I have certainly made none in their behalf) 
of rejrard for the West. It has been reserved to the 
gentleman from Massachusetts, while he vaunts his 
own personal devotion to Western interests, to claim 
for the entire section of country to which he belongs 
an ardent friendship for the West, as manifested by 
their support of the system of internal improvement, 
while he casts in our teeth the reproach that the South 
has manifested hostility to Western interests in op- 
posing appropriations for such objects. That gentle- 
man, at the same time, acknowledged that the South 
entertains constitutional scruples on this subject. Are 
we then, sir, to understand that the gentleman consid- 
ers it a just subject of reproach that we respect our 
oaths by which we are bound " to preserve, protect, 
and defend the Constitution of the United States " ? 
Would the gentleman have us manifest our love to 
the West by trampling under foot our constitutional 
scruples ? Does he not perceive, if the South is to be 
reproached with unkindness to the West in voting 
against appropriations which the gentleman admits 
they could not vote for without doing violence to their 
constitutional opinions, that he exposes himself to 
the question whether, if he were in our situation, he 
could vote for these appropriations, regardless of his 
scruples? No, sir, I will not do the gentleman so 
great injustice. He has fallen into this error from 
not havinof dulv weijrhed the force and effect of the 
reproach which he was endeavoring to cast upon the 
South. In relation to the other point, the friendship 



36 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

nianifested by New England toward the West in their 
support of the system of internal improvement, the 
gentleman will pardon me for saying that I think he 
is eqi;ally unfortunate in having introduced that topic. 
As that gentleman has forced it upon us, however, I 
cannot suffer it to pass unnoticed. When the gentle- 
man tells us that the appropriations for internal 
improvement in the West would, in almost every 
instance, have failed but for the New England votes, 
he has forgotten to tell us the when, the how, and the 
wherefore this new-born zeal for the West sprung up 
in the bosom of New England. If we look back only 
a few 5'ears, we will find in both Houses of Congress 
a uniform and steady opposition on the part of the 
members from the Eastern States generally to all 
appropriations of this character. At the time I be- 
came a member of this House, and for some time 
afterwards, a decided majority of the New England 
Senators were opposed to the very measures which the 
Senator from Massachusetts tells us they now cordially 
support. Sir, the Journals are before me, and an 
examination of them will satisfy every gentleman of 
that fact. 

It must be well known to every one whose experi- 
ence dates back as far as 1825 that, up to a certain 
period. New England was generally opposed to appro- 
priations for internal improvements in the West. The 
gentleman from Massachusetts may be himself an 
exception, but if he went for the system before 1825, 
it is certain that his colleagues did not go with him. 
In the session of 1821 and 1825, however (a memora- 
ble era in the history of this country), a wonderful 
change took place in New England in relation to 
Western interests. Sir. an extraordinary union of 



SPEECH OF MR. HAYNE. 37 

s^Tiipatliies and of interests was then effected, which 
brouoht the East and the West into close alliance. 
The book from which I have before read contains the 
first pul)lic annunciation of that ha])py reconciliation 
of conflicting interests, personal and political, which 
bi-ought the East and West together, and locked in a 
fraternal embrace the two great orators ^ of the East 
and the West. Sir, it was on the 18th of January, 
1825, while the result of the Presidential election, in 
the House of Representatives, was still doubtful, while 
the whole country was looking with intense anxiety to 
that legislative hall where the mighty drama was so 
soon to be acted, that we saw the leaders of two great 
parties in the House and in the nation " taking sweet 
counsel together," and in a celebi-ated debate on the 
Cumberland Road fighting side by side for Western 
interests. It was on that memorable occasion that 
the Senator from Massachusetts held out the white 
flas: to the West, and uttered those liberal sentiments 
which he yesterday so indignantly repudiated. Then 
it was that that happy union between the members of 
the celebrated Coalition was consummated, whose im- 
mediate issue was a President from one quarter of the 
Union, with a succession (as it was supposed) secured 
to another. The "-American System," ^ before a rude, 
disjointed, and misshapened mass, now assumed form 
and consistency. Then it was that it became " the set- 
tled policy of the government " that this system should 
be so administered as to create a reciprocity of interests 

1 Clay and Webster. 

- Heiiry Clay gave the name oj "American System" to his 
plan of protection and internal improvement brought forward 
during the debates which preceded the passage of the tarilf of 
1824. 



38 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

and a reciprocal distribution of government favors, 
East and M'est (the tariff and internal improvements), 
while the South — yes, sir, the impracticable South — 
was to be " out of your protection." The gentleman 
may boast as much as he pleases of the friendship of 
New England for the West, as displayed in their sup- 
port of internal improvement ; but, when he next 
introduces that topic, I trust that he will tell us when 
that friendship commenced, how it was brought about, 
and why it was established. Before I leave this topic 
I must be permitted to say that the true character of 
the policy now pursued by the gentleman from Massa- 
chusetts and his friends, in relation to appropriations 
of land and money for the benefit of the West, is in 
my estimation very similar to that pursued by Jacob 
of old toward his brother Esau : "it robs them of 
their birthright for a mess of pottage." 

The gentleman from Massachusetts, in alluding to 
a remark of mine that, before any disposition could be 
made of the public lands, the national debt, for which 
they stand pledged, must be first paid, took occasion 
to intimate " that the extraordinary fervor which 
seems to exist in a certain quarter [meaning the 
South, sir], for the payment of the debt, arises from 
a disposition to weaken the ties which bind the people 
to the Union." While the gentleman deals us this 
blow, he professes an ardent desire to see the debt 
speedily extinguished. He must excuse me, however, 
for feeling some distrust on that subject until I find 
this disposition manifested by something stronger than 
professions. I shall look for acts, decided and une- 
quivocal acts, for the peiformance of which an oppor- 
tunity will very soon (if I am not greatly mistaken) 
be afforded. Sir, if I were at liberty to judge of the u 



SPEECH OF MR. HAYNE. 39 

course wliieh that gentleman would pursue, from the 
principles which he has laid down in relation to this 
matter, 1 should be bound to conclude that he will be 
found acting with those with whom it is a darling 
object to prevent the payment of the public debt. 
He tells us he is desirous of paying the debt, "because 
we are under an obligation to discharge it." Now, 
sir, suppose it shoidd happen that the public credit- 
ors, with whom we have contracted the obligation, 
should release us from it, so far as to declare their 
willingness to wait for payment for fifty years to 
come, provided only the interest shall be punctually 
discharged. The gentleman from Massachusetts will 
then be released from the obligation which now makes 
him desirous of paying the debt ; and, let me tell 
the gentleman, the holders of the stock will not 
only release us from this obligation, but they will 
implore, nay, they will even pay us not to pay them. 
" But," adds the gentleman, " so far as the debt may 
have an effect in binding the debtors to the country, 
and thereby serving as a link to hold the States 
together, he would be glad that it should exist for- 
ever." Surely then, sir, on the gentleman's own 
principles, he must be opposed to the payment of the 
debt. 

Sir, let me tell that gentleman that the South repu- 
diates the idea that a pecuniary dependence on the 
federal oovernment is one of the legitimate means of 
holding the States together. A moneyed interest in 
the government is essentially a base interest ; and just 
so far as it operates to bind the feelings of those who 
are subjected to it to the government, — just so far 
V as it operates in creating sympathies and interests 

/ that would not otherwise exist, — is it opposed to all 



40 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

the principles of free government, and at war with 
virtue and patriotism. Sir, the link which binds the 
public creditors, as such, to their country, binds them 
equally to all governments, whether arbitrary or free. 
In a free government, this principle of abject depend- 
ence, if extended thi'ough all the ramifications of 
society, must be fatal to liberty. Already have we 
made alarming^ strides in that direction. The entire 
class of manufacturers, the holders of stocks, with 
their hundreds of millions of capital, are held to the 
government by the strong link of pecuniary interests ; 
millions of people — entire sections of country, inter- 
ested, or believing themselves to be so, in the public 
lands and the public treasure — are bound to the gov- 
ernment by the expectation of pecuniary favors. If 
this system is carried much further, no man can fail 
to see that every generous motive of attachment to 
the country will be destroyed, and in its place will 
spring up those low, groveling, base, and selfish feel- 
ings which bind men to the footstool of a despot by 
bonds as strong and enduring as those which attach 
them to free institutions. Sir, I would lay the foun- 
dation of this government in the affections of the 
people. I would teach them to cling to it by dis- 
pensing equal justice and, above all, by securing the 
" blessings of liberty " to " themselves and to their 
posterity." 

The honorable gentleman from Massachusetts has 
gone out of his way to pass a high eulogium on the 
State of Ohio. In the most impassioned tones of elo- 
quence he described her nuijestic march to greatness. 
He told us that, having already left all the other States 
far behind, she was now passing by Virginia and 
Pennsylvania, and about to take her station by the 



SPEECH OF MR. HA YNE. 41 

side of New York. To all this, sir, I was disposed 
most cordially to respond. When, however, the gen- 
tleman proceeded to contrast the State of Ohio with 
Kentucky, to the disadvantage of the latter, I listened 
to him with regret ; and when he proceeded further to 
attribute the great and, as he supposed, acknowledged 
superiority' of the former in population, wealth, and 
general prosperity to the policy of Nathan Dane of 
Massachusetts, which had secured to the peojde of 
Ohio (by the Ordinance of '87) a population of free- 
men, I will confess that my feelings suffered a revul- 
sion which I am now unable to describe in any lan- 
guage sufficiently respectful toward the gentleman 
from Massachusetts. In contrasting the State of Ohio 
with Kentucky, for the purpose of pointing out the 
superiority of the former, and of attributing that 
superiority to the existence of slavery in the one State 
and its absence in the other, I thought I could dis- 
cern the very spirit of the Missouri question ^ intruded 

1 The Missouri Compromise came about in the following 
manner : In the first session of the Sixteenth Congress the 
House passed a bill admitting Maine, but refused to admit Mis- 
souri as a slave State. In the Senate the Maine bill and another 
for the admission of Missouri with slavery were combined in one 
bill and passed, but this bill was rejected by the House. By 
means of a compromise effected by Clay and other moderate 
members, the Senate then allowed each State to be voted on 
separately, and the House agreed to permit slavery in ]Missouri. 
Then both Houses prohibited slavery north of 36° 30', and Maine 
was admitted to the Union, while the formation of a State gov- 
ernment in Missouri was authorized. In the second session of 
the Sixteenth Congress Missouri applied for admission, and the 
House rejected the application because a clause in the Constitu- 
tion of Missouri prohibited the entrance of free negroes. On 
March 2, 1821, Clay managed to admit Missouri on the condition 
that it should never pass an act to interfere with the constitu- 
tional privileges of citizens of another State. 



42 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

into this debate for objects best known to the gentle- 
man himself. Did that gentleman, sir, when he 
formed the determination to cross the Southern border 
in order to invade the State of South Carolina, deem 
it prudent or necessary to enlist under his banners the 
prejudices of the world, which, like Swiss troops, may- 
be engaged in any cause, and are prepared to serve 
under any leader ? Did he desire to avail himself of 
those remorseless allies, the passions of mankind, of 
which it may be more truly said than of the savage 
tribes of the wilderness that their '• known rule of 
warfare is an indiscriminate slaughter of all ages, 
sexes, and conditions " ? ^ Or was it supposed, sir, 
that, in a premeditated and unprovoked attack upon 
the South, it was advisable to begin by a gentle ad- 
monition of our supposed weakness, in order to prevent 
us from making that firm and manly resistance due to 
our own character and our dearest interests? Was 
the significant hint of the weakness of slaveholding 
States, when contrasted with the superior strength of 
free States, — like the glare of the weapon half drawn 
from its scabbard, — intended to enforce the lessons 
of prudence and of patriotism which the gentleman 
had resolved, out of his abundant generosity, gratui- 
tously to bestow upon us ? Mr. President, the impres- 
sion which has gone abroad of the weakness of the 
South, as connected with the slave question, exposes 
us to such constant attacks, has done us so much in- 
jury, and is calculated to produce such infinite mis- 

1 " He has excited domestic insurrection among us, and has 
endeavored to brinsr on the inhabitants of our frontiers the 
merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an 
undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions " 
(Declaration of Independence). 



SPEECH OF MR. HAYNE. 43 

chiefs, that I embrace the occasion presented by the 
remarks of the gentleman from ISIassaehusetts to 
declare that we are ready to meet the question 
promptly and fearlessly. It is one from which we are 
not disposed to shrink, in whatever form or under 
whatever circumstances it may be pressed upon us. 

We are ready to make up the issue ^^'ith the gentle- 
man as to the influence of slavery on individual and 
national character, — on the prosperity and greatness 
either of the United States or of particular States. 
Sir, when arraigned before the bar of public opinion 
on this charge of slavery, we can stand up with con- 
scious rectitude, plead not guilty, and put ourselves 
upon God and our country. Sir, we will not consent 
to look at slavery in the abstract. We will not stop 
to inquire whether the black man, as some philoso- 
phers have contended, is of an inferior race, nor 
whether his color and condition are the effects of a 
curse inflicted for the ofi^enses of his ancestors. We 
deal in no abstractions. We will not look back to 
inquire whether our fathers were guiltless in introdu- 
cing slaves into this country. If an inquiry should 
ever be instituted into these matters, however, it will 
be found that the profits of the slave trade were not 
confined to the South. Southern ships and Southern 
sailors were not the instruments of bringing slaves to 
the shores of America, nor did our merchants reap the 
profits of that " accursed traffic." But, sir, we will 
pass over all this. If slavery, as it now exists in this 
country, be an evil, we of the present day found it 
ready made to our hands. Finding our lot cast among 
a people whom God had manifestly committed to our 
care, we did not sit down to speculate on abstract 
questions of theoretical liberty. We met it as a prac- 



44 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

tical question of obligation and duty. We resolved 
to make the best of the situation in which Providence 
had placed us, and to fidfill the high trust which had 
devolved upon us as the owners of slaves, in the only- 
way in which such a trust could be fulfilled without 
spreading misery and ruin throughout the land. AVe 
found that we had to deal with a people whose phy- 
sical, moral, and intellectual habits and character 
totally disqualified them for the enjoyment of the 
blessings of freedom. We could not send them back 
to the shores from whence their fathers had been 
taken ; their numbers forbade the thought, even if we 
did not know that their condition here is infinitely 
preferable to what it possibly could be among the bar- 
ren sands and savage tribes of Africa; and it was 
wholly irreconcilable with all our notions of humanity 
to tear asunder the tender ties which they had formed 
among us, to gTatify the feelings of a false philan- 
thropy. What a commentary on the wisdom, justice, 
and humanity of the Southern slave-owner is presented 
by the example of certain benevolent associations and 
charitable individuals elsewhere ! Shedding weak 
tears over sufferings which had existence only in their 
own sickly imaginations, these " friends of humanity " 
set themselves systematically to work to seduce the 
slaves of the South from their masters. By means of 
missionaries and political tracts, the scheme was in a 
great measure successful. Thousands of these deluded 
victims of fanaticism were seduced into the enjoyment 
of freedom in our Northern cities. And what has 
been the consequence? Go to these cities now and 
ask the question. Visit the dark and narrow lanes, 
and obscure recesses, which have been assigned by 
common consent as the abodes of those outcasts of the 



SPEECH OF MR. HAYNE. 45 

world, the free people of color. Sir, there does not 
exist, on the face of the whole earth, a population so 
poor, so wretched, so vile, so loathsome, so utterly- 
destitute of all the comforts, conveniences, and de- 
cencies of life, as the unfortunate blacks of Philadel- 
phia, and New York, and Boston. Liberty has been 
to them the greatest of calamities, the heaviest of 
curses. Sir, I have had some opportunities of making 
comparison between the condition of the free negroes 
of the North and the slaves of the South, and the 
comparison has left not only an indelible impression 
of the superior advantages of the latter, but has gone 
far to reconcile me to slavery itself. Never have I 
felt so forcibly that touching description, " the foxes 
have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but 
the Son of man hath not where to lay his head," as 
when I have seen this unhappy race, naked and house- 
less, almost starving in the streets, and abandoned by 
all the world. Sir, I have seen in the neighborhood 
of one of the most moral, religious, and refined cities 
of the North a family of free blacks driven to the 
caves of the rock, and there obtaining a precarious 
subsistence from charity and plunder. 

When the gentleman from jMassachusetts adopts 
and reiterates the old charge of weakness as resulting 
from slavery, I must be permitted to call for the proof 
of those blighting effects which he ascribes to its in- 
fluence. I suspect that when the subject is closely 
examined, it will be found that there is not much 
force even in the plausible objection of the want of 
physical power in slaveholding States. The power 
of a country is compounded of its poi)ulation and its 
wealth : and in modern times, where, from the very 
form and structure of society, by far the greater por- 



46 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

tion of the people must, even during the continuance 
of the most desolating wars, be employed in the culti- 
vation of the soil and other peaceful pursuits, it may be 
well doubted whether slaveholding States, by reason 
of the superior value of their productions, are not able 
to maintain a number of troops in the field fully equal 
to what could be supported by States with a larger 
white population but not possessed of equal resources. 
It is a popular error to suppose that in any possible 
state of things the people of a country could ever be 
called out en ?7iasse, or that a half, or a third, or even 
a fifth part of the physical force of any country could 
ever be brought into the field. The difficulty is not 
to procure men, but to provide the means of maintain- 
ing them ; and in this view of the subject it may be 
asked whether the Southern States are not a source 
of strength and power, and not of weakness, to the 
country, — whether they have not contributed and 
are not now contributing largely to the wealth and 
prosperity of every State in this Union. From a 
statement which I hold in my hand it appears that 
in ten yeai's, from 1818 to 1827 inclusive, the whole 
amount of the domestic exports of the United States 
was $521,811,045 ; of which three articles (the pro- 
duct of slave labor), viz., cotton, rice, and tobacco, 
amounted to 1339,203,232, equal to about two thirds 
of the whole. It is not true, as has been supposed, 
that the advantages of this labor are confined al- 
most exclusively to the Soutliern States. Sir, I am 
thoroughly convinced that, at this time, the States 
north of the Potomac actually derive greater profits 
from the labor of our slaves than we do ourselves. 
It appears from our public documents that in seven 
years, from 1821 to 1827 inclusive, the six Southern 



SPEECH OF MR. HAYNE. 47 

States exported .fl90,337,281 and imported only 
$55,646,301. Now, the difference between these two 
sums (near $140,000,000) passed through the hands 
of the Northern merchants, and enabled them to carry 
on their commercial operations with all the world. 
Such part of these goods as found its way back to our 
hands came charged with the duties, as well as the 
profits, of the merchant, the shipowner, and a host of 
others, who found employment in carrying on these 
immense exchanges ; and for such part as was con- 
sumed at the North we received in exchange Northern 
manufactures, charged with an increased price, to 
cover all the taxes which the Northern consumer has 
been compelled to pay on the imported article. It 
will be seen, therefore, at a glance, how much slave 
labor has contributed to the wealth and prosperity 
of the United States, and how largely our Northern 
brethren have participated in the profits of that labor. 
Sir, on this subject I will quote an authority which 
will, I doubt not, be considered by the Senator from 
Massachusetts as entitled to high respect. It is from 
the great father of the " American System," honest 
Mathew Carey, no great friend, it is true, at this 
time, to Southern rights and Southern interests, but 
not the worst authority, on that account, on the point 
in question. 

Speaking of the relative Importance to the Union of 
the Southern and the Eastern States, Mathew Carey, 
in the sixth edition of his ''Olive Branch "^ (page 

^ Mathew Carey was born in Ireland in 17G0 ; obliged to 
fly to Paris on account of his political synipatliics, he was be- 
friended by Franklin. In 1784 he came to Philadelphia, where 
he became both a bookseller and a publisher. For six years he 
conducted The American Museum. His Olive Branch, which 



48 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

278), after exhibiting a number of statistical tables 
to show the decided superiority of the former, thus 
proceeds : — 

" But I am tired of this investigation. I sicken 
for the honor of the human species. AVhat idea must 
the world form of the arrogance of the pretensions of 
the one side (the East), and, on the other, of the folly 
and weakness of the rest of the Union, to have so long 
suffered them to pass without exposui*e and detection ? 
The naked fact is that the demagogues in the Eastern 
States, not satisfied with deriving all the benefit from 
the Southern section of the Union that they woidd 
from so many wealthy colonies, — with making princely 
fortunes by the carriage and exportation of its bidky 
and valuable productions, and supplying it with their 
own manufactures and the productions of Europe and 
the East and AYest Indies, to an enormous amount 
and at an immense profit, — have uniformly treated it 
with outrage, insult, and injury. And, regardless of 
their vital interests, the Eastern States were lately 
courting their own destruction by allowing a few 
restless, turbulent men to lead them blindfolded to 
a separation which was pregnant with their certain 
ruin. AVhenever that event takes place, they sink to 
their native insignificance. If a separation were de- 
sirable to any part of the Union, it would be to the 
ISIiddle and Southern States, particularly the latter, 
who have been so long harassed with the complaints, 
the restlessness, the turbulence, and the ingratitude 

appeared first in 1814, was meant to produce a spirit of political 
liarinony during- the conduct of the War of 1812. It is full of 
int'ormation industriously brought together. Carey is best re- 
membered for his zeal in promoting the cause of protection to 
American industries. He died in 1839. 



SPEECH OF MR. HAYNE. 49 

of the Eastern States, that their patience has been 
tried ahuost beyond endurance. 'Jeshurun waxed 
fat, and kicked.* ^ And he will be severely punished 
for his kickinc: in the event of a dissolution of the 
L nion. 

Sir, I wish it to be distinctly understood that I do 
not adopt these sentiments as my own. I quote them 
to show that very different sentiments have prevailed 
in former times as to the weakness of the slavehold- 
ino- States from those which now seem to have become 
fashionable in certain quarters. I know it has been 
supposed by certain ill-informed persons that the 
South exists only by the countenance and protection 
of the North. Sir, this is the idlest of all idle and 
ridiculous fancies that ever entered into the mind of 
man. In every State of this Union, except one, the 
free white population actually preponderates ; while 
in the British AVest India Islands (where the average 
white population is less than ten per cent of the 
whole) the slaves are kept in entire subjection, it is 
preposterous to suppose that the Southern States 
coidd ever find the smallest difficidty in this respect. 
On this subject, as on all others, we ask nothing of 
our Northern brethren but to " let us alone." Leave 
us to the undisturbed management of our domestic 
concerns, and the direction of our own industry, and 
we will ask no more. Sir, all our difficidties on this 
subject have arisen from interference from abroad, 
which has disturbed and may again disturb our do- 
mestic tranquillity just so far as to bring down pun- 
ishment upon the heads of the unfortunate victims of 
a fanatical and mistaken humanity. 

There is a spirit which, like the father of evil, is 
^ See Denterouomv xxxii, 15. 



50 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

constantly " walking to and fro about the earth, seek- 
ing whom it may devour ; " it is the spirit of False 
Philanthropy. The persons whom it possesses do 
not indeed throw themselves into the flames, but they 
are employed in lighting up the torches of discord 
throughout the community. Their first principle of 
action is to leave their own affairs, and neglect their 
own duties, to regulate the affairs and duties of others. 
Theirs is the task to feed the hungry and clothe the 
naked of other lands, while they thrust the naked, 
famished, and shivering beggar from their own doors ; 
to instruct the heathen, while their own children want 
the bread of life. When this spirit infuses itself into 
the bosom of a statesman (if one so possessed can be 
called a statesman), it converts him at once into a 
visionary enthusiast. Then it is that he indidges in 
golden dreams of national greatness and prosperity. 
He discovers that " liberty is power," and not content 
with vast schemes of improvement at home, which it 
would bankrupt the treasury of the world to execute, he 
flies to foreign lands to fulfill obligations to " the hu- 
man race " by inculcating the principles of " political 
and religious liberty," and promoting the " general wel- 
fare " of the whole human race. It is a spirit which 
has long been busy with the slaves of the South, and 
is even now displaying itself in vain efforts to drive 
the government from its wise policy in relation to the 
Indians. It is this spirit which has filled the land 
with thousands of wild and visionary projects, which 
can have no effect but to waste the energies and dis- 
sipate the resources of the country. It is the spirit of 
which the aspiring politician dexterously avails him- 
self when, by inscribing on his banner the magical 
words Liberty and Philanthropy, he draws to his sup- 



SPEECH OF MR. HA YNE. 51 

port that entire class of persons who are ready to bow 
down to the very names of their idols. 

But, sir, whatever difference of opinion may exist 
as to the effect of slavery on national wealth and 
prosperity, if we may trust to experience, there can 
be no doubt that it has never yet produced any injuri- 
ous effect on individual or national character. Look 
through the whole history of the country, from the 
commencement of the Revolution down to the present 
hour ; where are there to be found brighter examples 
of intellectual and moral greatness than have been 
exhibited by the sons of the South ? From the Father 
of his Country down to the distinguished chieftain who 
has been elevated by a grateful people to the highest 
office in their gift, the interval is filled up by a long 
line of orators, of statesmen, and of heroes, justly en- 
titled to rank among the ornaments of their country 
and the benefactors of mankind. Look at the Old 
Dominion, great and magnanimous Virginia, " whose 
jewels are her sons." Is there any State in this Union 
which has contributed so much to the honor and wel- 
fare of the country ? Sir, I will yield the whole ques- 
tion ; I will acknowledge the fatal effects of slavery 
upon character, if any one can say that for noble dis- 
interestedness, ardent love of country, exalted virtue, 
and a pure and holy devotion to liberty, the people of 
the Southern States have ever been surpassed by any 
in the world. I know, sir, that this devotion to lib- 
erty has sometimes been supposed to be at war with 
our institutions : but it is in some degree the result of 
those very institutions. Burke, the most philosophical 
of statesmen, as he was the most accomplished of ora- 
tors, well understood the operation of this principle in 
elevating the sentiments and exalting the princijiles of 



62 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

the people in slaveholding States. I will conclude ray 
remarks on this branch of the subject by reading a 
few passages from his speech " On moving his resolu- 
tions for conciliation with the Colonies," the 22d of 
March, 1775 : — 

" There is a circumstance attending these [the 
Southern] colonies which . . . makes the spirit of 
liberty still more high and haughty than in those 
to the northward. It is that in Virginia and the 
Carolinas they have a vast multitude of slaves. Where 
this is the case in any part of the world, those who 
are free are by far the most proud and jealous of their 
freedom. Freedom is to them not only an enjoyment, 
but a kind of rank and privilege. Not seeing there 
that freedom, as in countries where it is a common 
blessing and as broad and general as the air, may 
be united with much abject toil, with great misery, 
with all the exterior of servitude, liberty looks amongst 
them like something that is more noble and liberal. 
I do not mean, sir, to commend the superior morality 
of this sentiment, which has at least as much pride as 
virtue in it ; but I cannot alter the nature of man. 
The fact is so, and these people of the Southern colo- 
nies are much more strongly, and with a higher and 
more stubborn spirit, attached to liberty than those 
to the northward. Such were all the ancient com- 
monwealths ; such were our Gothic ancestors ; sucli in 
our days were the Poles : and such will be all masters 
of slaves who are not slaves themselves. In such a 
people the haughtiness of domination combines with 
the spirit of freedom, fortifies it, and renders it invin- 
cible." 1 

^ From Burke's speech on Conciliation with the Colonies, 
March 22, 1775. (See Riverside Literature Series, No. 100, p. 25.) 



SPEECH OF MR. HA YNE. 53 

In the course of my former remarks/ Mr. President, 
I took occasion to deprecate, as one of the greatest 
evils, the consolidation of this government. The gen- 
tleman takes alarm at the sound. " Consolidation," 
like the tariff, grates upon his ear. He tells us " we 
have heard much of late about consolidation ; that it 
is the rallying word for all who are endeavoring to 
weaken the Union by adding to the power of the 
States." But consolidation (says the gentleman) was 
the very object for which the Union was formed ; and, 
in support of that opinion, he read a passage from 
the address of the President of the Convention to 
Congress, which he assumes to be an authority on his 
side of the question. But, sir, the gentleman is mis- 
taken. The object of the framers of the Constitution, 
as disclosed in that address, was not the consolidation 
of the government, but " the consolidation of the 
Union." It was not to draw power from the States 
in order to transfer it to a great national government, 
but, in the language of the Constitution itself, " to 
form a more perfect Union," — and by what means? 
By " establishing justice, promoting domestic tran- 
quillity, and securing the blessings of liberty to our- 
selves and our posterity." This is the true reading of 
the Constitution. But, according to the gentleman's 
reading, the object of the Constitution was to consoli- 
date the government, and the means would seem to be, 
the promotion of injustice, causing domestic discord, 
and depriving the States and the people of " the bless- 
ings of liberty " forever. 

^ It is possible that at this point Mr. Ilayne took up his 
speech ou January 25, where he had left it on the 21st ; the 
National Intelligencer makes this division in its issues of Febru- 
ary 15 and 16, in which the entire speech is printed. 



54 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

The gentleman boasts of belonging to the party 
of National Republicans. National Republicans ! A 
new name, sir, for a very old thing. The National 
Republicans of the present day were the Federalists 
of "98, who became Federal Republicans during the 
War of 1812, and were manufactured into National 
Republicans somewhere about the year 1825. As a 
party (by whatever name distinguished) they have 
always been animated by the same principles, and 
have kept steadily in view a common object, the con- 
solidation of the government. Sir, the party to which 
I am proud of having belonged, from the very com- 
mencement of my political life to the present day, 
were the Democrats of '98 (Anarchists, Anti-Federal- 
ists, Revolutionists, I think they were sometimes 
called). They assumed the name of Democratic Re- 
publicans in 1812,^ and have retained their name and 
principles up to the present hour. True to their 
political faith, they have always, as a party, been in 
favor of limitations of power ; they have insisted that 
all powers not delegated to the federal government 
are reserved, and have been constantly struggling, as 
they now are, to preserve the rights of the States, and 
to prevent them from being drawn into the vortex, 
and swallowed up by one great consolidated govern- 
ment. 

Sir, any one acquainted with the history of parties 
in this country will recognize in the jioints now in dis- 
pute between the Senator from Massachusetts and 
myself the very grounds which have, from the begin- 
ning, divided the two great parties in this country, 

1 "About this time [1792, the Anti-Federalists] adopted the 
name Democratic-Kepuhlican. . . . This has always been the 
official party title." (Johnston's History of American Politics.) 



SPEECH OF MR. HAYNE. 55 

and which (call those parties by what names j'ou will, 
and amalgamate them as you may) will divide them 
forever. The true distinction between these parties is 
laid down in a celebrated manifesto, issued by the 
Convention of the Federalists of Massachusetts, as- 
sembled in Boston in February, 1824, on the occasion 
of oi-ganizing a party opposition to the reelection 
of Governor Eustis.^ The gentleman will recognize 
this as " the canonical book of political scripture ; " 
and it instructs us that, " when the American Colonies 
redeemed themselves from British bondage, and be- 
came so many independent nations, they proposed to 
form a national Union (not a federal Union, sir, but 
a national Union). Those who were in favor of a 
union of the States in this form became known by the 
name of Federalists ; those who wanted no union of 
the States, or disliked the proposed form of union, 
became known by the name of Anti-Federalists. By 
means which need not be enumerated, the Anti-Fed- 
eralists became (after the expiration of twelve years) 
our national rulers, and for a period of sixteen years, 
until the close of Mr. Madison's administration in 
1817, continued to exercise the exclusive direction of 
our public affairs." Here, sir, is the true history of 
the origin, rise, and progress of the party of National 
Republicans, who date back to the very origin of the 
government, and who then, as now, chose to consider 
the Constitution as having created not a federal but a 
national Union ; who regarded " consolidation " as no 
evil, and who doubtless consider it a " consummation 

^ William Eustis was elected Governor of Massachusetts in 
1823 as the candidate of the Democratic-Republican party. 
Practically, the Federalist party at the time of his election had 
ceased to exist. 



56 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

devoutly to be wished " to build up a great " central 
government," "one and indivisible." Sir, there have 
existed in every age and every country two distinct 
orders of men, — the lovers of freedom, and the de- 
voted advocates of power. 

The same great leading principles, modified only 
by peculiarities of manners, habits, and institutions, 
divided parties in the ancient republics, animated the 
Whigs and Tories of Great Britain, distinguished in 
our own times the Liberals and Ultras of France, and 
may be traced even in the bloody struggles of unhappy 
Spain. Sir, when the gallant Riego,^ who devoted 
himself and all that he possessed to the liberties of his 
country, was dragged to the scaffold, followed by the 
tears and lamentations of every lover of freedom 
throughout the world, he perished amid the deafening 
cries of " Long live the absolute kiug ! " The people 
whom I represent, Mr. President, are the descendants 
of those who brought with them to this country, as 
the most precious of their possessions, " an ardent 
love of liberty ; " and while that shall be preserved, 
they will always be found manfully struggling against 
the consolidation of the government AS THE wokst 

OF EVILS. 

The Senator from JVIassachusetts, in alluding to the 
tariff, becomes quite facetious. He tells us that " he 
hears of nothing but tariff, tariff, tariff; and, if a 
word could be found to rhyme with it, he presumes it 
would be celebrated in verse and set to music." Sir, 
perhaps the gentleman, in mockery of our complaints, 
may be himself disposed to sing the praises of the 
tariff, in doggerel verse, to the tune of " Old Hun- 

1 Riego was executed as a traitor in 1823. He had fought 
against Napoleon, and led the revolt in southern Spain in 1820. 



SPEECH OF MR. HAYNE. 57 

dred." I am not at all surprised, however, at the 
aversion of the gentleman to the very name of tariff. 
1 doubt not that it must always bring up some very 
unpleasant recollections to his mind. If 1 am not 
greatly mistaken, the Senator from Massachusetts was 
a leading actor at a great meeting got up in Boston in 
1820 against the tariff. It has generally been suj)- 
posed that he drew up the resolutions adopted by that 
meeting, denouncing the tariff system as unequal, op- 
pressive, and unjust, and, if I am not much mistaken, 
denying its constitutionality. Certain it is that the 
gentleman made a speech on that occasion in supjDort 
of those resolutions, denouncing the system in no very 
measured terms, and, if my memory serves me, calling 
its constitutionality in question. I regret that I have 
not been able to lay my hands on those proceedings ; 
but I have seen them, and cannot be mistaken in 
their character. At that time, sir, the Senator from 
Massachusetts entertained the very sentiments in re- 
lation to the tariff which the South now entertains. 
We next find the Senator from Massachusetts ex- 
pressing his opinion on the tariff as a member 
of the House of Representatives from the city of 
Boston, in 1824. On that occasion, sir, the gentle- 
man assumed a position which commanded the respect 
and admiration of his country. He stood forth the 
powerful and fearless champion of free trade. He 
met, in that conflict, the advocates of restriction and 
monopoly, and they "' tied from before his face." With 
a profound sagacity, a fullness of knowledge, and a 
richness of illustration that have never been surpassed, 
he maintained and established the principles of com- 
mercial freedom on a foundation never to be shaken. 
Great indeed was the victory achieved by the gentle- 



58 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

man on that occasion ; most striking the contrast 
between the clear, forcible, and convincing arguments 
by which he carried away the understandings of his 
hearers, and the narrow views and wretched sophistry 
of another distinguished orator, who may be truly 
said to have held up his " farthing candle to the sun." ^ 
Sir, the Senator from Massachusetts, on that, the 
proudest day of his life, like a mighty giant, bore 
away upon his shoulders the pillars of the temple of 
error and delusion, escaping himself unhurt, and leav- 
ins: his adversaries overwhelmed in its ruins. Then 
it was that he erected to free trade a beautiful and 
enduring monument, and " inscribed the marble with 
his name." Mr. President, it is with pain and regret 
that I now go forward to the next great era in the 
political life of that gentleman, when he was found on 
this floor supporting, advocating, and finally voting 
for the Tarife of 1828, — that "bill of abominations." 2 
By that act, sir, the Senator from Massachusetts has 
destroyed the labors of his whole life, and given a 
wound to the cause of free trade never to be healed. 
Sir, when I recollect the position which the gentleman 
once occupied, and that which he now holds in public 
estimation, in relation to this subject, it is not at all 
surprising that the tariff should be hateful to his eai-s. 
Sir, if I had erected to my own fame so proud a monu- 
ment as that which the gentleman built up in 182-4, 

^ Young's Love of Fame, Satire vii. 

2 The Tariff of 1828, called the Tariff of Abominations, be- 
cause of the excessive duties, particularly on wool (70 per cent) 
and hemp (860 a ton). Its purpose was twofold, — to aid 
Western growers and to aim a blow at Adams. Of this tariff 
John Randolph said : " Tlie bill referred to manufactures of no 
sort or kind except the manufacture of a President of the 
United States." 



SPEECH OF MR. HAYNE. 59 

and I could have been tempted to destroy it with my 
own hands, I shoiild hate the voice that shoukl ring 
" the accursed tariff " in my ears. I doubt not the 
gentleman feels very much, in relation to the tariff, as 
a certain knight did to " instinct," and with him would 
be disposed to exclaim, 

" Ah, no more of that, Hal, an thou lovest me ! " ^ 

But, Mr. President, to be serious, what are we of 
the South to think of what we have heai'd this day ? 
The Senator from Massachusetts tells us that the tariff 
is not an Eastern measure, and treats it as if the East 
had no interest in it. The Senator from Missouri 
insists it is not a Western measure, and that it has 
done no good to the West. The South comes in, and, 
in the most earnest manner, represents to you that this 
measure, which we are told " is of no value to the 
East or the West," is " utterly destructive of our 
interests." We represent to you that it has spread 
ruin and devastation through the land, and prostrated 
our hopes in the dust. AYe solemnly declare that we 
believe the system to be wholly unconstitutional, and 
a violation of the compact between the States and the 
Union ; and our brethren turn a deaf ear to our com- 
plaints, and refuse to relieve us from a system " which 
not enriches them, but makes us poor indeed." Good 
God ! Mr. President, has it come to this ? Do gentle- 
men hold the feelinofs and wishes of their brethren at 
so cheap a rate that they refuse to gratify them at so 
small a price? Do gentlemen value so lightly the 
peace and harmony of the country that they will not 
yield a measure of this description to the affectionate 
entreaties and earnest remonstrances of their friends ? 
Do gentlemen estimate the value of the Union at so 

^ See Shakespeare's Henry IV., First Part, act ii. scene 4. 



60 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

low a price that they will not even make one effort to 
bind the States together with the cords of affection ? 
And has it come to this ? Is this the spirit in which 
this government is to be administered? If so, let me 
tell gentlemen, the seeds of dissolution are already 
sown, and our children will reap the bitter fruit. 

The honorable gentleman from Massachusetts []Mr. 
Webster] , while he exonerates me personally from the 
charge, intimates that there is a party in the country 
who are looking to disunion. Sir, if the gentleman 
had stopped there, the accusation would have " passed 
by me as the idle wind, which I regard not." ^ But 
when he goes on to give to his accusation a local habi- 
tation and a name by quoting the expression of a dis- 
tinguished citizen of South Carolina [Dr. Cooper], 
" that it was time for the South to calculate the value 
of the Union," and in the language of the bitterest 
sarcasm adds, " Surely, then, the Union cannot last 
longer than July, 1831," it is impossible to mistake 
either the allusion or the object of the gentleman. 
Now, Mr. President, I call upon every one who hears 
me to bear witness that this controversy is not of my 
seeking. The Senate will do me the justice to remem- 
ber that, at the time this unprovoked and uncalled-for 
attack was made upon the South, not one word had 
been uttered by me in disparagement of New Eng- 
land ; nor had I made the most distant allusion either 
to the Senator from jSIassaehusetts or the State he 
represents. But, sir, that gentleman has thought 
proper, for ])urposes best known to himself, to strike 
the South, through me, the most unworthy of her ser- 
vants. He has crossed the border, he has invaded the 

' An inexact quotation from Shakespeare's Julius Ccesar, act 
iv. scene 3. 



SPEECH OF MR. HAYNE. 61 

State of South Carolina, is making war upon her citi- 
zens, and endeavoring to overthrow her principles and 
her institutions. Sir, when the gentleman provokes 
me to such a conflict, I meet him at the threshold ; I 
will struoole, while I have life, for our altars and our 
firesides ; and, if God gives me strength, 1 will drive 
back the invader discomfited. Nor shall I stop there. 
If the gentleman provokes the war, he shall have war. 
Sir, I will not stop at the border ; I will carry the war 
into the enemy's territory, and not consent to lay down 
my arms until I shall have obtained " indemnity for 
the past and security for the future." It is with un- 
feigned reluctance, Mr. President, that I enter upon 
the performance of this part of my duty ; I shrink 
ahnost instinctively from a course, however necessary, 
which may have a tendency to excite sectional feelings 
and sectional jealousies. But, sir, the task has been 
forced upon me ; and I proceed right onward to the 
performance of my duty. Be the consequences what 
they may, the responsibility is with those who have 
imposed upon me this necessity. The Senator from 
Massachusetts has thought proper to cast the first 
stone ; and if he shall find, according to a homely 
adage, that " he lives in a glass house," on his head 
be the consequences. The gentleman has made a 
great flourish about his fidelity to jMassachusetts. I 
shall make no professions of zeal for the interests and 
honor of South Carolina ; of that my constituents shall 
judge. If there be one State in the Union, ]Mr. Presi- 
dent (and I say it not in a boastful spirit), that may 
challenge comparison with any other for a imiform, 
zealous, ardent, and uncalculating devotion to the 
Union, that State is South Carolina. Sir, from the 
very commencement of the Revolution up to this hour. 



62 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

there is no sacrifice, however great, she has not cheer- 
fully made, no service she has ever hesitated to per- 
form. She has adhered to you in your prosperity ; but 
in your adversity she has clung to you with more than 
filial affection. No matter what was the condition of 
her domestic affairs, though deprived of her resources, 
divided by parties, or surrounded with difficulties, the 
call of the country has been to her as the voice of 
God. Domestic discord ceased at the sound ; every 
man became at once reconciled to his brethren, and 
the sons of Carolina were all seen crowding together 
to the temple, bringing their gifts to the altar of their 
common country. 

What, sir, was the conduct of the South during the 
Revolution ? Sir, I honor New England for her con- 
duct in that glorious struggle. But great as is the 
praise which belongs to her, I think at least equal 
honor is due to the South. They espoused the quarrel 
of their brethren with a generous zeal, which did not 
suffer them to stop to calculate their interest in the 
dispute. Favorites of the mother countr}^ possessed 
of neither ships nor seamen to create a commercial 
rivalship, they might have foimd in their sitiiation a 
guaranty that their trade would be forever fostered 
and protected by Great Britain. But, trampling on 
all considerations either of interest or of safety, they 
rushed into the conflict, and, fighting for principle, 
periled all in the sacred cause of freedom. Never 
were there exhibited in the history of the world higher 
examples of noble daring, dreadful suffering, and 
heroic endurance than by the AVhigs of Carolina dur- 
ing the Revolution. The whole State, from the moun- 
tains to the sea, was overrun by an overwhelming force 
of the enemy. The fruits of industry perished on the 



SPEECH OF MR. HAYNE. 63 

spot where they were produced, or were consumed by 
the foe. The " plains of Carolina " drank up the most 
precious blood of her citizens. Black and smoking 
ruins marked the places where had been the habita- 
tions of her children. Driven from their homes into 
the gloomy and almost impenetrable swamps, even 
there the spirit of liberty survived, and South Caro- 
lina (sustained by the example of her Sumters ^ and 
her Marions^) proved by her condixct that, though 
her soil might be overrun, the spirit of her peojjle 
was invincible. 

But, sir, our country was soon called upon to 
engage in another revolutionary struggle, and that 
too was a struggle for principle. I mean the politi- 
cal revolution which dates back to '98,^ and which, if 
it had not been successfully achieved, would have left 
us none of the fruits of the Revolution of '76. The 
revolution of '98 restored the Constitution, rescued 
the liberty of the citizen from the grasp of those who 
were aiming at its life, and, in the emphatic language 
of Mr. Jefferson, " saved the Constitution at its last 
gasp." And by whom was it achieved ? By the 
South, sir, aided only by the democracy of the North 
and West. 

1 Thomas Sumter, an American general, was active in the 
Southern campaigns during the Revohition. He had two severe 
encounters with Colonel Tarletou, in which he was once success- 
ful and once defeated. 

2 Francis Marion, a colonel during the American Revolution, 
was conspicuous in the manoeuvres around Charleston, and 
afterwards organized a brigade famous for the swiftness of its 
movements. 

^ The reference is to the revolt against the Alien and Sedi- 
tion laws, which expressed itself through the Kentucky and 
Virginia Resolutions of 1798, and resulted in the defeat of the 
Federalist party and the election of Jefferson in 1801. 



64 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

I come now to the War of 1812, a war which I 
well remember was called in derision (wliile its event 
was doubtful) the Southern war, and sometimes the 
Carolina war, but which is now universally acknow- 
ledged to have done more for the honor and prosper- 
ity of the counti'y than all other events in our history 
put together. What, sir, were the objects of that 
war ? " Free ti-ade and sailors' rights ! " It was for 
the protection of Northern shipping and New England 
seamen that the country flew to arms. What interest 
had the South in that contest ? If they had sat down 
coolly to calculate the value of their interests involved 
in it, they would have found that they had everything 
to lose and nothing to gain. But, sir, with that gen- 
erous devotion to country so characteristic of the 
South, they only asked if the rights of any portion of 
their fellow citizens had been invaded ; and when told 
that Northern ships and New England seamen had 
been arrested on the common highway of nations, 
they felt that the honor of their country was assailed ; 
and, actins" on that exalted sentiment " which feels a 
stain like a wound," they resolved to seek, in open 
war, for a redress of those injuries which it did not 
become freemen to endure. Sir, the whole South, 
animated as by a common impulse, cordially united 
in declaring and promoting that war. South Carolina 
sent to your councils, as the advocates and supporters 
of that war, the noblest of her sons. How they ful- 
filled tliat trust, let a grateful country tell. Not a 
measure was adopted, not a battle fought, not a vic- 
tory won, which contributed in any degree to the 
success of that war, to which Southern councils and 
Southern valor did not largely contribute. Sir, since 
South Carolina is assailed, I must be suffered to speak 



SPEECH OF MR. HA YNE. 65 

it to her praise that, at the very moment when in one 
quarter we heard it solemnly proclaimed " that it did 
not become a religious and moral people to rejoice at 
the victories of our army or our navy," her Legisla- 
ture imanimously 

" Resolved^ That we will cordially support the gov- 
ernment in the vigorous prosecution of the war until 
a peace can be obtained on honorable terms, and we 
will cheerfully submit to every privation that may be 
required of us by our government for the accomplish- 
ment of this object." 

South Carolina redeemed that pledge. She threw 
open her treasury to the government. She put at the 
absolute disposal of the officers of the United States 
all that she possessed, — her men, her money, and her 
arms. She appropriated half a million of dollars, on 
her own account, in defense of her maritime frontier ; 
ordered a brigade of State troops to be raised : and, 
w^hen left to protect herself by her own means, never 
suffered the enemy to touch her soil without being 
instantly driven off or captured. 

Such, sir, was the conduct of the South — such the 
conduct of my own State — in that dark hour " which 
tried men's souls." 

When I look back and contemplate the spectacle 
exhibited at that time in another quarter of the 
Union, when I think of the conduct of certain por- 
tions of New England, and remember the ])art which 
was acted on that memorable occasion by the political 
associates of the gentleman from Massachusetts, — 
nay, when I follow that gentleman into the councils 
of the nation, and listen to his voice during the dark- 
est period of the war, — I am indeed astonished that 
he should venture to touch upon the topics which he 



66 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

has introduced into this debate. South Carolina re- 
proached by Massachusetts ! And from whom does 
the accusation come? Not from the democracy of 
New England ; for they have been in times past, as 
they are now, the friends and allies of the South. 
No, sir, the accusation comes from that party whose 
acts during- the most trying and eventful period of 
our national histoi-y were of such a character that 
their own Legislature, but a few years ago, actually 
blotted them out from their records as a stain upon 
the honor of the country. But how can they ever be 
blotted out from the recollection of any one who had 
a heart to feel, a mind to comprehend, and a memory 
to retain the events of that day ? Sir, I shall not 
attempt to write the history of the party in New Eng- 
land to which I have alluded, — the war party in 
peace, and the peace party in war. That task I shall 
leave to some future biographer of Nathan Dane, 
and I doubt not it will be found quite easy to prove 
that the peace party of Massachusetts were the only 
defenders of their country during tlie war, and actu- 
ally achieved all our victories by land and sea. In 
the meantime, sir, and until that history shall be 
written, I propose, with the feeble and glimmering- 
lights which I possess, to review the conduct of this 
party, in connection with the war and the events 
which immediately preceded it. 

It will be recollected, sir, that our great causes of 
quarrel with Great Britain were her depredations on 
Northern commerce, and the impressment of New 
England 'seamen. From every quarter we are called 
upon for protection. Importunate as the West is now 
represented to be on another subject, the importunity 
of the East on that occasion was far greater, I hold 



SPEECH OF MR. HAYNE. 67 

in my hands the evidence of the fact. Here are peti- 
tions, memorials, and remonstrances from all parts 
of New England, setting forth the injustice, the op- 
pressions, the depredations, the insults, the outrages 
committed by Great Britain against the unoffending 
commerce and seamen of New England, and calling 
upon Congress for redress. Sir, I cannot stop to 
read these memorials. In that from Boston, after 
stating the alarming and extensive condemnation of 
our vessels by Great Britain which threatened " to 
sweep our commerce from the face of the ocean," and 
" to involve our merchants in bankruptcy," they call 
upon the government " to assert our rights, and to 
adopt such measures as will support the dignity and 
honor of the United States." 

From Salem we heard a language still more deci- 
sive ; they call explicitly for " an appeal to arras," 
and pledge their lives and property in support of any 
measures which Congress might adopt. From New- 
buryport an appeal was made " to the firmness and 
justice of the government to obtain compensation and 
protection." It was here, I think, that, when the 
war was declared, it was resolved " to resist our 
own government even unto blood." (Olive Branch, 
page 101.) 

In other quarters the common language of that 
day was that our commerce and our seamen were 
entitled to protection, and that it was the duty of the 
government to afford it at every hazard. The con- 
duct of Great Britain, we were then told, was " an 
outrage upon our National Independence." These 
clamors, which commenced as early as January, 1806, 
were continued up to 1812. In a message from the 
governor of one of the New England States,^ as late 
^ Roger Griswold, Governor of Connecticut. 



68 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

as the 10th of October, 1811, this language is held : 
" A manly and decisive course has become indispen- 
sable ; a course to satisfy foreign nations that, while 
we desire peace, we have the means and the spirit 
to repel aggression. We are false to ourselves when 
our commerce or our territory is invaded with im- 
punity." 

About this time, however, a remarkable change was 
observable in the tone and temper of those who had 
been endeavoring to force the country into a war. 
The language of complaint was changed into that 
of insult, and calls for protection converted into 
reproaches. " Smoke, smoke I " says one writer ; ^ 
" my life on it, our Executive have no more idea of 
declaring war than my grandmother." '' The Com- 
mittee of Ways and Means," says another, "have 
come out wdth their Pandora's Box- of taxes, and 
yet nobody dreams of war." " Congress do not mean 
to declare war ; they dare not." But why multi- 
ply examples ? An honorable member of the other 
House, from the city of Boston (Mr. Quincy 3), in 
a speech delivered on the 3d of April, 1812, says, 
" Neither promises, nor threats, nor asseverations, nor 
oaths will make me believe that you will go to war. 

1 In the (Boston) Repertory, January 9, 1810. 

- Pandora (all-gifted), the wife of Epinietheus, brother of 
Prometheus. Out of curiosity she opened a box and loosed 
therefrom the evils henceforth to afflict the human race, retain- 
ino- only Hope. According to the Greeks, she was the first 
woman ; her resemblance to Eve is obvious. 

8 Josiah Quincy (1772-18G4) was Mayor of Boston from 
1823 to 1828, his conspicuous services in that office causing him 
to be remembered as the "Great Mayor." From 1829 to 1845 
he was President of Harvard College. His Life by his son 
Edmund is one of the worthiest of American biographies. 



SPEECH OF MR. HAYNE. 69 

The navigation States are sacrificed, and the spirit 
and character of the country prostrated by fear and 
avarice."' " You cannot," said the same gentleman 
on another occasion, " be kicked into a war." 

Well, sir, the war at length came, and what did we 
behold ? The very men who had been for six years 
clamorous for war, and for whose protection it was 
waged, became at once equally clamorous against it. 
They had received a miraculous visitation ; a new 
light suddenly beamed upon their minds, the scales 
fell from their eyes, and it was discovered that the 
war was declared from " subserviency to France," 
and that Congress and the Executive " had sold them- 
selves to Napoleon ;" that Great Britain had in fact 
" done us no essential injury ; " that she was " the 
bulwark of our religion ; " that where " she took one 
of our ships, she protected twenty ; " and that, if% 
Great Britain had impressed a few of our seamen, it 
was because " she could not distinguish them from her 
own." And so far did this spirit extend that a com- 
mittee of the Massachusetts Legislature actually fell 
to calcidation, and discovered, to their infinite satis- 
faction, but to the astonishment of all the world be- 
side, that only eleven Massachusetts sailors had ever 
been impressed. Never shall I forget the appeals 
that had been made to the sympathies of the South 
in behalf of the " thousands of impressed Americans " 
who had been torn from their families and friends, 
and '* immured in the floating dungeons of Britain." 
The most touching pictures were drawn of the hard 
condition of the American sailor, " treated like a slave," 
forced to fight the battles of his enemy, "lashed to 
the mast to be shot at like a dog." But, sir, the veiy 
moment we had taken up arms in their defense, it was 



70 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

discovered that all these were mere " fictions of the 
brain ; " and that the whole number in the State of 
Massachusetts was but eleven, and that even these 
had been " taken by mistake. ' Wonderful discovery ! 
The Secretary of State had collected authentic lists of 
no less than six thousand impressed Americans. Lord 
Castlereagh ^ himself acknowledged sixteen hundred. 
Calculations on the basis of the number found on 
board of the Guerriere, the Macedonian, the Java, 
and other British ships (captured by the skill and 
gallantrj'^ of those heroes whose achievements are the 
treasured monuments of their country's glory), fixed 
the number at seven thousand ; and yet it seems ]\Ias- 
sachusetts had lost but eleven ! Eleven Massachusetts 
sailors taken by mistake ! A cause of war indeed ! 
Their ships, too, the capture of which had threatened 
V universal bankruptcy : " it was discovered that Great 
Britain was their friend and protector ; " where she 
had taken one, she had protected twenty ! " Then 
was the discovery made that subserviency to France, 
hostility to commerce, " a determination on the part 
of the South and the "West to break down the East- 
ern States," and especially (as reported by a commit- 
tee of the Massachusetts Legislature) " to force the 
sons of commerce to populate the wilderness," were 
the true causes of the war. (Olive Branch, pages 
134, 291.) 

But let us look a little farther into the conduct of 
the Peace party of New England at that imjjortant 

1 Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh, afterwards second 
Marquis of Londonderry, was Secretary for War from 1807 to 
1809, when occurred his duel with George Canning. From 
1812 to his death, which he inflicted upon himself, he was Sec- 
retary for Foreign Affairs. 



SPEECH OF MR. HAYNE. 71 

crisis. Whatever difference of opinion might have 
existed as to the causes of the war, the country had a 
right to expect that, when once involved in the con- 
test, all America would have cordially united in its 
sup})ort. Sir, the war effected in its progress a union 
of all parties at the South. But not so in New Eng- 
land ; there great efforts were made to stir up the 
minds of the people to oppose it. Nothing was left 
undone to embarrass the financial operations of the 
government, to prevent the enlistment of troops, to 
keep back the men and mone}^ of New England from 
the service of the Union, to force the President from 
his seat. Yes, sir, " the Island of Elba or a halter ! " 
were the alternatives they presented to the excellent 
and venerable James Madison. Sir, the war was fur- 
ther opposed by openly carrying on illicit trade v.ith 
the enemy, by permitting that enemy to establish her- 
self on the very soil of Massachusetts, and by opening 
a free trade between Great Britain and America, with 
a separate custom-house ; — yes, sir, those who cannot 
endure the thouoht that we should insist on a free 
trade in time of profound peace could, without scruple, 
claim and exercise the right of carrying on a free 
trade with the enemy in a time of war ; — and finally 
by getting "up the renowned "Hartford Convention," 
and preparing the way for an open resistance to the 
government and a separation of the States. Sir, if I 
am asked for the proof of those things, I fearlessly ap- 
peal to contemporary history, to the public documents 
of the cou7itry, to the recorded opinion and acts of 
public assemblies, to the declaration and acknowledg- 
ments, since made, of the Executive and Legislature 
of Massachusetts herself.^ 

^ " In answer to an address of Governor Eustis, denouncing 



72 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

Sir, the time has not been allowed me to trace this 
subject through, even if I had been disposed to do so. 
But I cannot refrain from referring to one or two 
documents which have fallen in my way since this 
debate began. I read, sir, from the " Olive Branch " 
of Mathew Carey, in which are collected " the actings 
and doings '' of the Peace party of New England, 
during the continuance of the embargo and the war, 
I know the Senator from Massachusetts will respect 
the high authority of his political friend and fellow 
laborer in the great cause of "■ domestic industry." 

the conduct of the Peace party during the war, the House of 
Representatives of Massachusetts, in June, 1823, say : * The 
change of the political sentiment, evinced in the late elections, 
forms indeed a new era in the history of our Commonwealth. 
It is the triumph of reason over passion, of patriotism over 
party spirit. Massachusetts has returned to her first love, and 
is no longer a stranger in the Union. We rejoice that though, 
during the last war, such measures were adopted iu this State 
as occasioned a double sacrifice of treasure and of life, covered 
the friends of the nation with humiliation and mourning, and 
fixed a stain on the page of our history, a redeeming spirit has 
at length arisen to take away our reproach and restore to us 
our good name, our rank among our sister States, and our just 
influence in the Union. 

"'Thoutrhwe would not renew contentions, or irritate wan- 
tonly, we believe that there are eases when it is necessary we 
should " wound to heal." And we consider it among the first 
duties of the friends of our national government, on tliis return 
of power, to disavow the unwarrantable course pursued by this 
State during the late war, and to hold ud the measures of that 
period as beacons, that the present and succeeding generations 
may sliuu that career wiiich must luevirably terminate in the 
destruction of the individual or party who pursues it ; and may 
learn the important lesson that, in all times, the path of duty 
is the path of safety, and that it is never dangerous to rally 
rouiul tlie standard of our country.' " (Note in the earlier edi- 
tions of Hayne's Speech.) 



SPEECH OF MR. HAYNE. 73 

In page 301 et seq. 309 of this work is a detailed 
account of the measures adopted in Massachusetts 
during- the war, for the express. purpose of enibai-rass- 
ing" the financial operations of the government, by 
preventing loans, and thereby driving our rulers from 
their seats, and forcing the country into a dishonora- 
ble peace. It appears that the Boston banks com- 
menced an operation by which a run was to be made 
upon all the banks at the South, at the same time 
stopping their own discounts, the effect of which was 
to produce a sudden and most alarming diminution of 
the circulating medium, and imiversal distress over 
the whole country, a distress which they failed not to 
attribute to the " unholy war." 

To such an extent was this system carried that 
it appears, from a statement of the condition of the 
Boston banks made up in January, 1814, that with 
nearly $5,000,000 of specie in their vaults they had 
but $2,000,000 of bills in circulation. It is added by 
Carey that at this very time an extensive trade was 
carried on in British government bills, for which 
specie was sent to Canada for the ])ayment of the 
British troops, then laying waste our Northern fron- 
tier ; and this, too, at the very moment when New 
England ships, sailing under British licenses (a trade 
declared to be lawful by the courts both of Great 
Britain and Massachusetts), were sup]ilying with pro- 
visions those very armies destined for the invasion 
of our own shores. Sir, the author of the " Olive 
Branch," with a holy indignation, denounces these 
acts as "treasonable;" " giving aid and comfort to the 
enemy." I shall not follow his example. But 1 will 
ask. With what justice or propriety can the South be 
accused of disloyalty from that quarter ? If we had 



71 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

any evidence tliat the Senator from Massachusetts 
had admonished his brethren then, he might with a 
better grace assume tl>e office of admonishing us now. 

When I look at the measures adopted in Boston at 
that day to deprive the government of the necessary 
means for carrying on the war, and think of the suc- 
cess and the consequences of these measures, I feel 
my pride as an American humbled in the dust. Hear, 
sir, the language of that day. I read from pages 301 
and 302 of the "Olive Branch." "Let no man who 
wishes to continue the war, by active means, by vote, 
or lending money, dare to prostrate himself at the 
altar on the fast-day." " "Will Federalists subscribe 
to the loan ? Will they lend money to our national 
rulers? It is impossible, first because of principle, 
and secondly because of principle and interest." " Do 
not prevent the abusers of their trust from becoming 
bankrupt. Do not jjrevent them from becoming odi- 
ous to the public, and being replaced by better men." 
" Any Federalist who lends money to government 
must go and shake hands wath James Madison, and 
claim fellowship with Felix Grundy." ^ (I beg par- 
don of my honorable friend from Tennessee, but he 
is in good company. I had thought it was " James 
Madison, Felix Grundy, and the Devil.") " Let him 
no more call himself a Federalist, and a friend to his 
country, — he will be called by others infamous," etc. 

Sir, the spirit of the peojile sunk under these ap- 

1 Felix Grundy (1777-1840), a celebrated criminal lawyer of 
Tennessee. He served in tlie House from ISll to 1S14, and in 
18lJ9 was elected to the Senate. He took part in the debate on 
Foote's Resolution, and is thought to have leaned favorably 
toward n'liUifieation. He was Attorney-General in Van Buren's 
Cabinet for a little more than a year, when he was again elected 
to the Senate. 



SPEECH OF MR. HAYNE. 75 

peals. Such was the efPeet produced by them on the 
public mind that the very agents of the government 
(as appears from their public advertisements now be- 
fore me) could not obtain loans without a pledge that 
" the names of the subscribers should not be known." 
Here are the advertisements : " The names of all sub- 
scribers " (say Gilbert and Dean, the brokers em- 
ployed by government) " shall be known only to the 
undersisfned."' As if those who came forward to aid 
their country, in the hour of her utmost need, were 
engaged in some dark and foul conspiracy, they were 
assured " that their names should not be known." 
Can anything show moi'e conclusively the unhappy 
state of public feeling which prevailed at that day 
than this single fact? Of the same character with 
these measures was the conduct of Massachusetts in 
withholdino- her militia from the service of the United 
States, and devising measures for withdrawing her 
quota of the taxes, thereby attempting, not merely to 
cripple the resources of the country, but actually de- 
priving the government (so far as depended upon her) 
of all the means of carrying on the war, of the bone, 
and muscle, and sinews of war, " of man and steel, 
the soldier and his sword." But it seems Massachu- 
setts was to reserve her resources for herself, — she 
was to defend and protect her own shores. And how 
was that duty performed? In some places on the 
coast neutrality was declared, and the enemy was suf- 
fered to invade the soil of Massachusetts, and allowed 
to occupy her territory until the peace, without one 
effort to rescue it from his grasp. Nay, more, — while 
our owTi government and our own rulers were consid- 
ered as enemies, the troops of the enemy were treated 
like friends, — the most intimate commercial relations 



76 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

were established with them, and maintained up to the 
peace. At this dark period of our national affairs 
where was the Senator from Massachusetts? How 
were his political associates employed ? " Calculating 
the value of the Union ? " Yes, sir, that was the pro- 
pitious moment, when our country stood alone, the 
last hope of the world, struggling- for existence against 
the colossal power of Great Britain, *' concentrated in 
one mighty effort to crush us at a blow," — that was 
the chosen hour to revive the grand scheme of build- 
ing up " a great Northern confederacy," — a scheme 
which, it is stated in the w'ork before me, had its 
origin as far back as the year 1796, and which ap- 
pears never to have been entirely abandoned. 

In the language of the writers of that day (1796), 
" rather than have a Constitution such as the Anti- 
Federalists were contending for " (such as we now 
are contending for), "the Union ought to l)e dis- 
solved : " and to prepare the way for that measure, 
the same methods were resorted to then that have 
always been relied on for that purpose, — exciting 
prejudice against the South. Yes, sir, our Northern 
brethren were then told " that if the negroes were 
o-ood for food, their Southern masters would claim the 
right to destroy them at pleasure." (Olive Branch, 
page 267.) Sir, in 1814 all these topics were revived. 
Again we hear of " a Northern confederacy ; " " the 
slave States by themselves ; " " the mountains are the 
natural boundary:" we want neither ''the counsels 
nor the power of the West," etc. The papers teemed 
with accusations against the South and the West, and 
the calls for a dissolution of all connection with them 
were loud and strong. I cannot consent to go through 
the disgusting details. But, to show the height to 



SPEECH OF MR. HAYNE. 11 

which the spirit of disaffection was carried, I will 
take you to the temple of the living God, and show 
you that sacred place (which should be devoted to the 
extension of " peace on earth and good will towards 
men," where one day's truce ought surely to be allowed 
to the dissensions and animosities of mankind) con- 
verted into a fierce arena of political strife, where, 
from the lips of the priest standing between the horns 
of the altar, there went forth the most terrible denun- 
ciations auainst all who should be true to their couu- 
try in the hour of her utmost need. 

" If you do not wish," said a reverend clergyman ^ 
in a sermon preached in Boston on the 23d of July, 
1812, " to become the slaves of those who own slaves, 
and who are themselves the slaves of French slaves, 
you must either, in the language of the day, CUT THE 
CONNECTION, or SO far alter the national compact as to 
insure to yourselves a due share in the government." 
(Olive Branch, page 319.) '' The Union," says the 
same waiter (page 320), " has been long since virtu- 
ally dissolved, and it is full time that this part of 
the disunited States should take care of itself." 

Another reverend gentleman ,2 pastor of a church at 
Medford (page 321), issues his anathema, " Let him 
stand accursed," against all, all who, by their " per- 
sonal services," or '^ loans of lyoney," '' conversations," 
or "• writing," or " influence," give countenance or sup- 
port to the unrighteous war, in the following terms : 
"•T4iat man is an accomplice in the wickedness, he 
h)ads his conscience witli the blackest crimes, he brings 
the guilt of blood upon his soul, and in the sight of 
God and his law he is a murderer." 

1 The Rev. J. S. J. Gardiner, rector of Trinity Church. 

2 The Rev. David Osgood. 



78 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

One or two more quotations, sir, and I shall have 
done. A reverend doctor of divinity, the pastor of a 
church at Byfield,^ Massachusetts, on the 7th of April, 
1814, thus addresses his flock (page 321) : '* The Is- 
raelites became weary of yielding the fruit of their 
labor to pamper their splendid tyrants. They left their 
political woes. They separated. Where is our Moses ? 
Where the rod of his miracles? Where is our Aaron? 
Alas ! no voice from the burning bush has directed 
them here." " We must trample on the mandates of 
despotism, or remain slaves forever '' (page 322). 
" You must drag the chains of Virginian desi^otism, 
unless you discover some other mode of escape." 
" Those Western States which have been violent for 
this abominable war, those States which have thirsted 
for blood, God has given them blood to drink " (page 
323). Mr. President, I can go no further. The records 
of the day are full of such sentiments, issued from the 
press, spoken in public assemblies, poured oi;t from 
the sacred desk. God forbid, sir, that I should cliarge 
the people of ^Massachusetts witli participating in these 
sentiments. The South and the West had there their 
friends, — men who stood by their country, though 
encompassed all around by their enemies. The Sen- 
ator from Massachusetts [Mr. Silsbee] ^ was one of 
them ; the Senator from, Connecticut [Mr. Foote] was 
another ; and there are others now on this floor. The 
sentiments 1 have read were the sentiments of a party 
embracing the political associates of the gentleaian 

1 The Rev. Elijah Parish. 

- Nathaniel Silsbee was a member of the national House of 
Representatives from 1817 to 1821, and of the United States 
Senate from 182G to 1835. During most of this time he was 
the colleague of Mr. Webster, who was elected in 1827. 



SPEECH OF MR. HA YNE. 79 

from Massachusetts. If they could only be found in 
the columns of a newspajjer, in a few occasional pam- 
phlets, issued by men of intemperate feeling, I should 
not consider them as affording any evidence of the 
opinions even of the Peace party of New England. 
But, sir, they were the common language of that day ; 
they pervaded the whole land ; they were issued from 
the legislative hall, from the pulpit, and the press. 
Our books are full of them ; and there is no man who 
now hears me but knows that they were the sentiments 
of a party by whose members they were promulgated. 
Indeed, no evidence of this would seem to be required 
beyond the fact that such sentiments found their way 
even into the pulpits of New England. What must 
be the state of public opinion where any respectable 
clergyman would venture to preach and to print ser- 
mons containing the sentiments I have quoted? I 
doubt not the piety or moral worth of these gentle- 
men. I am told they were respectable and pious men. 
But they were men, and they " kindled in a common 
blaze." And now, sir, I must be suffered to remark 
that, at this awful and melancholy period of our 
national history, the gentleman from Massachiisetts, 
who now manifests so great a devotion to the Union, 
and so much anxiety lest it should be endangered 
from the South, was " with his brethren in Israel." 
He saw all these things passing before his eyes, — 
he heard these sentiments uttered all around him. 
I do not charge that gentleman with any particij^a- 
tion in these acts, or with approving of these senti- 
ments. 

But I will ask, why if he was animated by the same 
sentiments then which he now professes, if he can 
" augur disunion at a distance, and snuff up rebellion 



80 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

in every tainted breeze," why did he not, at that day, 
exert his great talents and acknowledged inflnence 
with the political associates by whom he was sur- 
rounded,^ and who then, as now, looked up to him for 
guidance and direction, in allaying this general excite- 
ment, in pointing out to his deluded friends the value 
of the Union, in instructing them that, instead of look- 
ing " to some prophet to lead them out from the land 
of Egypt," they should become reconciled to their bre- 
thren, and unite with them in the support of a just and 
necessary war? Sir, the gentleman must excuse me 
for saying that, if the records of our country afforded 
any evidence that he had pursued such a course, then, 
if we could find it recorded in the history of those 
times that, like the immortal Dexter,^ he had breasted 
that mighty torrent which was sweeping before it all 
tliat was great and valuable in our political insti- 
tutions ; if like him he had stood by his country in 
opposition to his part}', — sir, we would, like little 
children, listen to his precepts, and abide by his 
counsels. 

As soon as the public mind was suffici(>ntly pre- 
pared for the measure, the celebrated Hartford Con- 
vention was got up ; not as the act of a few 
unauthorized individuals, but by authority of the 
Legislature of Massachusetts, and, as has been 
shown by the able historian of that convention, in 
accordance with the views and wishes of the i)arty of 

1 "lie [Webster] (liscounteuaiH-od the measures whieh led 
to the Hartford Convention, and he helped to keep New llanip- 
sliire out of that movement." Lodge's Daniel Webster, p. 58 
(AnuMiean Statesmen Series). 

■- Samuel Dexter (17(')1-181(")) ; at first a strong Federalist, 
he supported the Uepublieans in tlie war policy of ISl'J, and 
was their nominee for Governor of Massaehusetts in ISIG. 



SPEECH OF MR. HA VNE. 81 

which it was the organ. Now, sir, 1 do not desire to 
call in question the motives of the gentlemen who 
composed that assembly. I knew many of them to be 
in private life accomplished and honorable men, and I 
doubt not there were some among them who did not 
perceive the dangerous tendency of their ])roceedings. 
I will even go further, and say that if the authors of 
the Hartford Convention believed that "• gross, delib- 
erate, and palpable violations of the Constitution " 
had taken place, utterly destructive of their rights 
and interests, I should be the last msm to deny their 
right to resort to any constitutional measures for 
redress. But, sir, in any view of the case, the time 
when and the circumstances under which that conven- 
tion assembled, as well as the measures recommended, 
render their conduct, in my opinion, wholly indefen- 
sible. Let us contemplate, for a moment, the spec- 
tacle then exhibited to the view of the world. I will 
not go over the disasters of the war, nor describe the 
difficulties in which the government was involved. It 
will be recollected that its credit was nearly gone, 
Washington had fallen, the whole coast was block- 
aded, and an immense force, collected in the West 
Indies, was about to make a descent which it was sup- 
posed we had no means of resisting. In this awful 
state of our public affairs, when the government 
seemed almost to be tottering on its base, when Great 
Britain, relieved from all her other enemies, had pro- 
claimed her purpose of '' reducing us to unconditional 
submission," we beheld the Peace party of New Eng- 
land (in the language of the work before us) pursu- 
ing a course calculated to do more injury to thcdr 
country, " and to render England more effective ser- 
vice than all her armies." Those who could not find 



82 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

it in their hearts to rejoice at our victories sang Te 
Deura at the King's Chapel in Boston for the resto- 
ration of the Bourbons. Those who could not consent 
to illuminate their dwellings for the capture of the 
Guerriere could give visible tokens of their joy at the 
fall of Detroit. The '' beacon fires " of their hills 
were lighted up, not for the encouragement of their 
friends, but as signals to the enemy ; and in the 
gloomy hours of midnight the veiy lights burned 
blue. Such wei-e the dark and portentous signs of 
the times which ushered into being the renowned 
Hartford Convention. That convention met, and 
from their proceedings it appears that their chief 
object was to keep back the men and money of New 
England from the service of the Union, and to effect 
radical changes in the government, — changes that can 
never be effected without a dissolution of the Union. 

Let us now, sir, look at their proceedings. 1 read 
from " A Short Account of the Hartford Convention " 
(written by one of its members i), a very rare book, 
of which I was fortunate enough, a few years ago, to 
obtain a copy. [Here Mr. Hayne read from the pro- 
ceedings.^] 

1 Tlieodore Lyman, Jr., 1792-1849. 

2 " It appears, at page 6 of the Account, that l)v a vote of the 
House of Representatives of Massachusetts ('2G0 to 90), dele- 
gates to this Convention were ordered to be appointed, to consult 
upon the subject ' of tiu'ir public grievances and concerns," and 
ujton ' the best means of preserving their resources,' and for 
procuring. a revision of the Constitution of the United States, 
* more eiVcctually to secure the support and attachment of all 
the i)eople by placing all upon the basis of fair representation.' 

" The Convention assembled at Hartford on the loth of De- 
cember, 1814. On the next day it was 

' Resolved, Tliat the' most inviolable secrecy shall be observed 
by each member of this Convention, including the Secretary, as 



SPEECH OF MR. HAYNE. 83 

It is unnecessary to trace the matter further, or to 
ask what would have been the next chapter in this 

to all propositions, debates, and proceedings thereof, until tbis 
injunction sball be suspended or altered.' 

" On the 24th of December, the committee appointed to pre- 
pare and report a general project of such measures as it may 
be proper for the Convention to adopt, reported, among other 
things : — 

1. ' That it was expedient to recommend to the legislatures 
of the States the adoption of the most effectual and decisive 
measures to protect the militia of the States from the usurpa- 
tions contained in these proceedings [the proceedings of Con- 
gress aud the Executive in relation to the militia and the war]. 

2. * That it was expedient also to prepare a statement 
exhibiting the necessity which the improvidence and inability 
of the general government have imposed upon the States of 
providing for their own defense, and the impossibility of their 
discharging this duty and at the same time fulfilling the requi- 
sitions of the general government ; and also to recommend to 
the legislatures of the several States to make provision for mu- 
tual defense, and to make an earnest application to the govern- 
ment of the United States with a view to some arranjrement 
whereby the States may be enabled to retain a portion of the 
taxes levied by Congress for the purposes of self-defense, and 
for the reimbursement of expenses already incurred on account 
of the United States. 

3. ' That it is expedient to recommend to the several State 
legislatures certain amendments to the Constitution, viz. : — 

' That the power to declare or make war by the Congress of 
the United States be restricted. 

' That it is expedient to attempt to make provision for re- 
straining Congress in the exercise of an unlimited power to 
make new States and admit them into the Union. 

' Tiiat an amendment bo proposed respecting slave representa- 
tion and slave taxation.' 

" On the 29th December, 1814, it was proposed ' that the ca- 
pacity of naturalized citizens to hold offices of trust, honor, or 
profit ought to be restrained,' etc. 

" The subsequent proceedings are not given at large. But it 
seems that the report of the committee was adopted, and also a 



84 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

history if the measures recommended had been car- 
ried into effect ; and if, with the men and money of 
New England withheld from the government of the 
United States, she had been withdrawn from the war ; 
if New Orleans had fallen into the hands of the 
enemy ; and if, without troops and almost destitute 
of money, the Southern and the Western States had 
been thro\vn upon their own resources for the prose- 
cution of the war and the recovery of New Orleans. 
Sir, whatever may have been the issue of the contest, 
the Union must have been dissolved. But a wise and 
just Providence, which " shapes our ends, rough-hew 
them how we will," ^ gave us the victory, and crowned 
our efforts with a glorious peace. The Ambassadors 
of Hartford^ were seen retracing their steps from 
Washington, " the bearers of the glad tidings of 
great joy." Courage and jiatriotism triumphed ; the 
country was saved ; the Union was preserved. And 
are we, Mr. President, who stood by our country then, 
who threw open our coffers, who bared our bosoms, 
who freely periled all in that conflict, to be reproached 
with want of attachment to the Union ? If, sir, we 

reconimeiidation of certain measures (of the character of which 
we are not informed) to the States for their mutual defense ; 
and having voted ' that the injunction of secrecy in regard to 
all the debates and proceedings of tlie Convention (except so 
far as relates to the Report finally adopted) be continued," the 
Convention adjourned sine die, but (as it was supposed) to meet 
again when circumstances should require it." (Note in the 
earlier editions of Ilayno's Speech, printed without change.) 

1 See Shakespeare's Hamlet, act v. scene 2. 

2 Three commissioners, lieaded by Harrison Gray Otis and 
bearing the recommendation of the New England (or Hartford) 
Convention, started for Wasliington early in February, 1815, but 
were met by the news of the battle of New Orleans, and quickly 
returned. 



SPEECH OF MR. HA YNE. 85 

are to have lessons of patriotism read to us, they must 
come from a different quarter. The Senator from 
Massachusetts, who is now so sensitive on all subjects 
connected with the Union, seems to have a memory 
forgetful of the political events that have passed 
away. I must therefore refresh his recollection a 
little further on these subjects. The history of dis- 
union has been written by one whose authority stands 
too high with the American people to be questioned, 
— I mean Thomas Jeffej'son. I know not how the 
gentleman may receive this authority. When that 
great and good man occupied the Presidential chair, 
I believe he commanded no portion of that gentle- 
man's respect. 

1 hold in my hand a celebrated pamphlet on the 
Embargo,^ in which language is held, in relation to 
Mr. Jefferson, wdiich my respect for his memory will 
prevent me from i-eading, unless any gentleman should 
call for it. But the Senator from Massachusetts has 
since joined in singing hosannas to his name ; he has 
assisted at his apotheosis, and has fixed him as " a 
brilliant star in the clear upper sky." I hope, there- 
fore, he is now prepared to receive with deference and 
respect the high authority of Mr. Jefferson. In the 
fourth volume of his Memoirs,^ which have just issued 

• On December 22, 1807, Congress passed an Embargo Act, 
which prohibited exportations from this country. The object 
was to force P^nghmd to abandon her Orders in Conncil, and 
France the Berlin and Milan Decrees, and to stop the seizure of 
American vessels and the impressment of our seamen. Tlie 
effect, however, was most disastrous to the commerce of this 
country, which siirank ominously, especially in New England. 
The Embargo terminated on ]\Iarch 4, 1809. 

2 The edition edited by T. J. Randolph (Charlottesville, 
1829). 



86 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

from the press, we have the following history of dis- 
union from the pen of that illustrious statesman : 
" Mr. Adams called on me pending the Embargo, and 
while endeavors were making to obtain its repeal ; he 
spoke of the dissatisfaction of the Eastern portion of 
our confederacy with the restraints of the Embargo 
then existing, and their restlessness under it ; that 
there was nothing which might not be attempted to 
rid themselves of it ; that he had information of the 
most unquestionable authority that certain citizens of 
the Eastern States (I think he named Massachusetts 
particularly) were in negotiation with agents of the 
British government, the object of which was an agree- 
ment that the New England States should take no 
further part in the war (the commercial war, the ' war 
of restrictions,' as it was called) then going on, and 
that, without formally declaring their separation from 
the Union, they should withdraw from all aid and obe- 
dience to them," etc. 

" From that moment," says Mr. Jefferson, " I saw 
the necessity of abandoning it [the Embargo], and, 
instead of effecting our purpose by this peaceful mea- 
sure, we must fight it out or break the Union." In 
another letter ISIr. Jefferson adds : " I doubt whether 
a sinsrle fact known to the world will carrv as clear 
conviction to it of the correctness of our knowledge of 
the treasonable views of the Federal party of that day 
as that disclosed by this, the most nefarious and dar- 
ing attempt to dissever the Union, of which the Hart- 
ford Convention was a subsequent chapter ; and, both 
of these having failed, consolidation becomes the 
fourth chapter of the next book of their history. But 
this opens with a vast accession of strengtli from their 
younger recruits, who, having nothing in them of the 



SPEECH OF MR. HA YNE. 87 

feelings and principles of '76, now look to a single 
and splendid government, etc., riding and ruling over 
the jilundered plouglnnan and beggared yeomanry." 
(Vol. iv. pp. 419, 422.) 

The last chapter, says Mr. Jefferson, of that his- 
tory is to be found in the conduct of those who are 
endeavoring to bring about consolidation ; ay, sir, that 
very consolidation for which the gentleman from ]\Ias- 
sachusetts is contending, — the exercise by the federal 
government of powers not delegated in relation to 
"internal improvements" and "the protection of manu- 
factures." And why, sir, does Mr. Jefferson consider 
consolidation as leading directly to disunion ? Because 
he knew that the exercise by the federal government 
of the powers contended for would make this " a gov- 
ernment without limitation of powers," the submission 
to which he considered as a greater evil than disunion 
itself. There is one chapter in this history, however, 
which Mr. Jefferson has not filled up, and I must 
therefore supply the deficiency. It is to be found in 
the protests made by New England against the acqui- 
sition of Louisiana. In relation to that subject, the 
New England doctrine is thus laid down by one of her 
learned political doctors of that day, now a doctor of 
laws at the head of the great literary institution of the 
East ; I mean Josiah Qnincy, President of Harvard 
College. I quote from the speech delivered by that 
gentleman on the floor of Congress, on the occasion of 
the admission of Louisiana into the Union. 

Mr. Quincy repeated and justified a remark he had 
made, which, to save all misapprehension, he had com- 
mitted to writing, in the following words : " If this 
bill passes, it is my deliberate opinion that it is vir- 
tually a dissolution of the Union ; that it \\\\\ free the 



88 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

States from their moral obligation ; and as it will be 
the right of all, so it will be the duty of some, to pre- 
pare for a separation, amicably if they can, violently 
if they must." 

Mr. Pi-esident, I wish it to be distinctly understood 
that all the remarks I have made on this subject are 
intended to be exclusively applied to a party which I 
have described as the " Peace party of New England," 
— embracing the political associates of the Senator 
from Massachusetts, — a party which controlled the 
operations of that State during the Embargo and the 
War, and who are justly chargeal)le with all the mea- 
sures I have reprobated. Sir, nothing has been fur- 
ther from my thoughts than to impeach the character 
or conduct of the people of New England. For their 
steady habits and hardy virtues I trust I entertain a 
becoming respect. I fully subscribe to the truth of 
the description given before the Revolution, by one 
whose praise is the highest eulogy, " that the perse- 
verance of Holland, the activity of France, and the 
dexterous and firm sagacity of English enterprise 
have been more than equaled by this recent people." ^ 
Hardy, enterprising, sagacious, industrious, and moral, 
the peo])le of New England of the present day are 
worthy of their ancestors. Still less, Mr. President, 
has it been my intention to say anything that could 
be construed into a want of respect for that l^irty who, 
trampling on all narrow, sectional feeling, have been 

1 " Neither the perseverance of Holland, nor the activity of 
France, nor the dexterons and firm sagacity of English enter- 
prise, ever carried this most perilous mode of hardy industry to 
the extent to which it has been pushed by this recent people." 
From Burke's Conciliation with the Colonies. (See Riverside 
Literature Series, No. 100, p. 10.) 



SPEECH OF MR. HAYNE. 89 

true to their principles in the worst of times ; I mean 
the democracy of New England. 

Sir, I will declare that, highly as I appreciate the 
democracy of the South, I consider even higher praise 
to be due to the democracy of New England, who 
have maintained their principles " through good and 
through evil report," who, at every period of our 
national history, have stood up manfully for " their 
country, their whole country, and nothing but their 
country." In the great political revolution of '98 they 
were found united with the democracy of the South, 
marchino- under the banner of the Constitution, led 
on by the patriarch of liberty, in search of the land 
of political promise, which they lived not only to 
behold, but to possess and to enjoy. Again, sir, in 
the darkest and most gloomy period of the wai", when 
our country stood single-handed against " the con- 
queror of the conquerors of the world," when all about 
and around them was dark and dreary, disastrous and 
discouraging, they stood a Spartan band in that nar- 
row pass, where the honor of their country was to be 
defended, or to find its grave. And in the last great 
struggle, involving, as we believe, the very existence 
of the principle of popular sovereignty, where were 
the democracy of New England ? Where they have 
always been found, sir, struggling side by side with 
their brethren of the South and the West for ])()pu- 
lar rights, and assisting in that glorious triumph by 
which the man of the people was elevated to the high- 
est office in tlieir gift. 

Who then, ISIr. President, are the true friends of 
the Union ? Those who would confine the federal 
government strictly within the limits prescribed by 
the Constitution ; who would preserve to the States 



90 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

and the people all powers not expressly delegated ; 
who would make this a federal and not a national 
Union, and who, administering the government in a 
spirit of equal justice, would make it a blessing and 
not a curse. And who are its enemies ? Those who 
are in favor of consolidation : who are constantly steal- 
ing power from the States, and adding strength to the 
federal government ; who, assuming an unwarrantable 
jurisdiction over the States and the people, undertake 
to regulate the whole industry and capital of the coun- 
try. But, sir, of all descriptions of men, I consider 
those as the worst enemies of the Union who sacrifice 
the equal rights which belong to every member of the 
Confederacy to combinations of interested majorities 
for personal or political objects. But the gentleman 
apprehends no evil from the dependence of the States 
on the federal government ; he can see no danger of 
corruption from the influence of money or of patron- 
age. Sir, I know that it is supposed to be a wise say- 
ing that " patronage is a source of weakness ; " and in 
support of that maxim it has been said that " every 
ten appointments make a hundred enemies." But I 
am rather inclined to think, wdth the eloquent and 
sagacious orator now reposing on his laurels on the 
banks of the Roanoke,^ that " the power of conferring 
favors creates a crowd of dependents." He gave a 
forcible illustration of the truth of the remark when 
he told us of the effect of holding up the savory mor- 
sel to the eager eyes of the hungry hounds gathered 
around his door. It mattered not whether the gift 
was bestowed on Towser or Sweetlips, " Tray, Blanch, 
or Sweet-heart ; " ^ while held in suspense, they were 

^ John Raudolpb of Roanoke, born 1773, died 1833. 
"^ See Shakespeare's King Lear, act iii. scene 6. 



SPEECH OF MR. HAYNE. 91 

all governed by a nod, and, when the morsel was 
bestowed, the expectation of the favors of to-morrow 
kept n]) the subjection of to-day. 

The Senator from Massachusetts, in denouncing 
what he is pleased to call the Carolina doctrine, has 
attempted to throw ridicule upon the idea that a State 
has any constitutional remedy, by the exercise of its 
sovereign authority, against " a gross, palpable, and 
deliberate violation of the Constitution." He called 
it " an idle " or " a ridiculous notion," or something to 
that effect, and added that it would make the Union 
a "mere rope of sand." Now, sir, as the gentleman 
has not condescended to enter into any examination 
of the question, and has been satisfied with throwing 
the weight of his authority into the scale, I do not 
deem it necessary to do more than to throw into the 
opposite scale the authority on which South Carolina 
relies ; and there, for the present, I am perfectly will- 
ing to leave the controversy. The South Carolina 
doctrine, that is to say, the doctrine contained in an 
exposition reported by a committee of the Legislature 
in December, 1828, and published by their authority, 
is the good old Republican doctrine of '98, — the doc- 
trine of the celebrated " Virginia Resolutions " of that 
year, and of "Madison's Report" of '99. It will be 
recollected that the Legislature of Virginia, in Decem- 
ber, '98, took into consideration the Alien and Sedition 
laws, then considered by all Republicans as a gross 
violation of the Constitution of the United States, 
and on that day ^ passed, among others, the following 
resolutions : — 

" The General Assembly . , . doth explicitly and 
peremptorily declare that it views the powers of the 
^ December 21, 1798. 



92 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

federal government, as resulting from the compact to 
which the States are parties, as limited by the plain 
sense and intention of the instrument constituting that 
compact ; as no farther valid than they are authorized 
by the grants enumerated in that compact ; and that, 
in case of a deliberate, palpable, and dangerous exer- 
cise of other powers not granted by the said compact, 
the States who are parties thereto have the right, and 
are in duty bound, to interpose for arresting the pro- 
gress of the evil, and for maintaining, within their 
respective limits, the authorities, rights, and liberties 
appertaining to them." 

In addition to the above resolution, the General 
Assembly of Virginia " appealed to the other States, 
in the confidence that they would concur with that 
Commonwealth that the acts aforesaid [the Alien and 
Sedition laws ^] are unconstitutional, and that the 
necessary and proper measures would be taken by 
each for cooperating with Virginia in maintaining 
unimpaired the authorities, rights, and liberties re- 
served to the States respectively, or to the people." 

The Legislatures of several of the New England 
States ha^^ng, contrary to the expectation of the 
Legislature of Virginia, expressed tlieir dissent from 
these doctrines, the subject came up again for con- 

1 The Alien Law was passed in 1798, and its action was lim- 
ited to two years ; the Sedition Law was passed in the same 
year, to expire in 1801. Both were extreme measures, and 
undoubtedly led to a reaction against the Federalists in the 
next election. Tliey were opposed by Hamilton. Their real 
if not expressed purpose was to discourage undue political sym- 
pathy with France, and to punish scurrilous attacks on the Execu- 
tive and the government. Among the immediate results of 
these measures was the passage of the Kentucky and Virginia 
resolutions of 1708. 



SPEECH OF MR. HAYNE. 93 

sideration during the session of 1799-1800, when it 
was referred to a select committee, by whom was made 
that celebrated report which is familiarly known 
as " Madison's Report," and which deserves to last 
as long as the Constitution itself. In that report, 
which was subsequently adopted by the Legislature, 
the whole subject was deliberately reexamined, and 
the objections urged against the Virginia doctrines 
carefully considered. The result was that the Legis- 
lature of Virginia reaffirmed all the principles laid 
down in the resolutions of 1798, and issued to the 
world that admirable report which has stamped the 
character of Mr. Madison as the preserver of that 
Constitution which he had contributed so largely to 
create and establish. 1 will here quote from Mr. 
Madison's report one or two passages which bear more 
immediately on the point in controversy. " The reso- 
lution, having taken this \aew of the federal compact, 
proceeds to infer ' that in case of a deliberate, pal- 
pable, and dangerous exercise of other powers, not 
granted by the said compact, the, States who are par- 
ties thereto have the right, and are in duty boimd, to 
interpose for arresting the progress of the evil, and 
for maintaining, within their respective limits, the 
authorities, rights, and liberties appertaining to them.' 
" It appears to your committee to be a ]ilain princi- 
ple, founded in common sense, illustrated by common 
practice, and essential to the nature of compacts, that, 
where resort can be had to no tribunal superior to the 
authority of the parties, the parties themselves must 
be the rightful judges in the last resort whether the 
bargain made has been pursued or violated. The 
Constitution of the United States was formed by the 
sanction of the States, given by each in its sovereign 



94 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

capacity. It adds to the stability and dignity, as 
well as to the authoa'ity of the Constitution, that it 
rests upon this legitimate and solid foundation. The 
States, then, being the parties to the constitutional 
compact, and in their sovereign capacity, it follows of 
necessity that there can be no tribunal above their 
authority to decide, in the last resort, whether the 
compact made by them be violated, and consequently 
that, as the parties to it, they must themselves decide 
in the last resort such questions as may be of sufficient 
magnitude to require their interposition. 

" The resolution has guarded against any misappre- 
hension of its object by expressly requiring for such 
an interposition ' the case of a deliberate, palpable, 
and dangerous breach of the Constitution by the exer- 
cise of powers not granted by it.' It must be a case, 
not of a light and transient nature, but of a nature 
dangerous to the great purposes for which the Consti- 
tution was established. 

" But the resolution has done more than guard 
against misconstruction, by expressly referring to 
cases of a deliberate, palpable, and dangerous nature. 
It specifies the object of the interposition which it 
contemplates, to be solely that of arresting the pro- 
gress of the evil of usurpation, and of maintaining 
the authorities, rights, and liberties appertaining to 
the States as parties to the Constitution. 

" From this view of the resolution it would seem 
inconceivable that it can incur any just disapproba- 
tion from tliose who, laying aside all momentary im- 
pressions, and recollecting the genuine source and 
object of the federal Constitution, shall candidly and 
accurately interpret the meaning of the General As- 
sembly. If the deliberate exercise of dangerous 



SPEECH OF MR. HAYNE. 95 

powers, palpably withheld by the Constitution, could 
not justify the parties to it in interposing even so far 
as to arrest the progress of the evil, and thereby to 
preserve the Constitution itself, as well as to provide 
for the safety of the parties to it, there would be an 
end to all relief from usurped power, and a direct 
subversion of the rights specified or recognized under 
all the State constitutions, as well as a plain denial of 
the fundamental principles on which our independence 
itself was declared." , -' 

But, sir, our authorities do not stop here. The 
State of Kentucky responded to Virginia, and on the 
10th of November, 1798, adopted those celebrated 
resolutions well known to have been penned by the 
author of the Declaration of American Independence. 
In those resolutions the Legislature of Kentucky de- 
clare " That the government created by this compact 
was not made the exclusive or final judge of the extent 
of the powers delegated to itself, since that would have 
made its discretion, and not the Constitution, the mea- 
sure of its powers ; but that, as in all other cases of 
compact among parties having no common judge, each 
party has an equal right to judge for itself, as well of 
infractions as of the mode and measure of redress." 

At the ensuing session of the Legislature the sub- 
ject was reexamined, and on the 14th of November, 
1799, the resolutions of the preceding year were de- 
liberately reaffirmed, and it was among other things 
solemnly declared : — 

" That, if those who administer the general govern- 
ment be permitted to transgress the limits fixed by that 
compact, by a total disregai-d to the special delegations 
of power therein contained, an annihilation of the 
State governments, and the erection upon their ruins 



96 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

of a general consolidated government, will be the 
inevitable consequence. That the principle and con- 
struction contended for by sundry of the State Legis- 
latures, that the general government is the exclusive 
judge of the extent of the powers delegated to it, stop 
not short of despotism, since the discretion of those 
who administer the government, and not the Consti- 
tution, would be the measure of their powers. That 
the several States who formed that instrument, being 
sovereign and independent, have the unquestionable 
right to judge of the infraction, and that a nullifica- 
tion by those sovereignties of all unauthorized acts 
done under color of that instrument is the rightful 
remedy." 

Time and experience confirmed ]Mr. Jefferson's 
opinion on this all-important point. In the year 1821 
he expressed himself in this emphatic manner : " It is 
a fatal heresy to suppose that either our State govern- 
ments are superior to the federal, or the federal to the 
State ; neither is authorized literally to decide which 
belongs to itself or its copartner in government ; in 
differences of opinion between their different sets of 
public servants, the appeal is to neither, but to their 
employers peaceably assembled by their representa- 
tives in convention." The opinion of Mr. Jefferson 
on this subject has been so repeatedly and so solemnly 
expressed that it may be said to have been among the 
most fixed and settled convictions of his mind. 

In the protest prepared by him for the Legislature 
of Virginia in December, 1825, in respect to the 
powers exercised by the federal government in rela- 
tion to the tariff and internal iuiprovements, which he 
declares to be " usurpations of the ))owers retained by 
the States, mere interpolations into the compact, and 



SPEECH OF MR. HAYNE. 97 

direct infractions of it," he solemnly reasserts all the 
principles of the Virginia Resolutions of '98 ; protests 
against " these acts of the federal branch of the gov- 
ernment as null and void ; and declares that, altliough 
Virginia would consider a dissolution of the Union 
as among the greatest calamities that could befall 
them, yet it is not the greatest. There is one yet 
greater, — submission to a government of unlimited 
powers. It is only when the hojie of this shall be- 
come absolutely desperate that further forbearance 
could not be indulsfed." 

In his letter to Mr. Giles, written about the same 
time, he says : — 

" I see as you do, and wath the deepest affliction, 
the rapid strides with which the federal branch of our 
government is advancing towards the usurpation of all 
the rights reserved to the States, and the consolida- 
tion in itself of all powers, foreign and domestic, and 
that, too, by constructions which leave no limits to 
their powers, etc. Under the power to regulate com- 
merce, they assume indefinitely that also over agi'icul- 
ture and manufactures, etc. Under the authority to 
establish post roads they claim that of cutting down 
mountains for the construction of roads, and diofajufj 
canals, etc. And what is our resource for the preser- 
vation of the Constitution? Eeason and aroument? 
YoTi might as well reason and argue with the marble 
columns encircling them, etc. Are we, then, to stand 
to our arms with the hot-headed Georgian ? ^ No (and 
I say no, and South Carolina has said no) : that must 
be the last resource. AVe must have patience and 
long endurance with our brethren, etc., and separate 
from our companions only when the sole alternatives 
^ Probably William H. Crawford is indicated. 



98 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

left are a dissolution of our union with them, or 
submission to a government without limitation of 
powers. Between these two evils, when we must 
make a choice, there can be no hesitation."' 

Such, sir, are the high and imposing authorities in 
support of " the Carolina doctrine," which is, in fact, 
the doctrine of the Virginia Resolutions of 1798. 

Sir, at that day the whole country was divided on 
this very question. It formed the line of demarcation 
between the Federal and Republican parties ; and the 
great political revolution which then took place turned 
upon the very question involved in these resolutions. 
That question was decided by the people, and by that 
decision the Constitution was, in the emphatic lan- 
guage of Mr. Jefferson, " saved at its last gasp." I 
should suppose, sir, it would require more self-respect 
than any gentleman here woidd be willing to assume, 
to treat lightly doctrines derived from such high 
sources. Resting on authority like this, I will ask 
gentlemen, whether South Carolina has not mani- 
fested a high regard for the Union when, under 
a tyranny ten times more grievous than the Alien 
and Sedition laws, she has hitherto gone no further 
than to petition, remonstrate, and to solemnly protest 
against a series of measures which she believes to be 
wholly unconstitutional and utterly destructive of her 
interests. Sir, South Carolina has not gone one step 
farther than iVIr. Jefferson himself was disposed to go 
in relation to the present subject of our present com- 
plaints ; not a step farther than the statesmen from 
New England were disposed to go under similar cir- 
cumstances ; no farther than the Senator from iSIas- 
sachusetts himself once considered as within '' the 
limits of a constitutional opposition." The doctrine 



SPEECH OF MR. HAYNE. 99 

that it is the right of a State to judge of the violations 
of the Constitution on the part of the federal govern- 
ment, and to protect her citizens from the operations 
of unconstitutional laws, was held by the enlightened 
citizens of Boston who assembled in Faneuil Hall on 
the 25th of January, 1809. They state in that cele- 
brated memorial that " they looked only to the State 
Legislatures, who were competent to devise relief 
against the unconstitutional acts of the general gov- 
ernment. That your power (say they) is adequate to 
that object is evident from the organization of the 
confederacy." 

A distinguished Senator from one of the New Eng- 
land States (Mr. Hillhouse^), in a speech delivered 
here on a bill for enforcing the Embargo, declared : " I 
feel myself bound in conscience to declare (lest the 
blood of those who shall fall in the execution of this 
measure shall be on my head) that I consider this to 
be an act which directs a mortal blow at the liberties 
of my country, — an act containing unconstitutional 
provisions, to which the people are not bound to 
submit, and to which, in my opinion, they will not 
submit." 

And the Senator from ISIassachusetts himself, in a 
speech delivered on the same subject in the other 
House, said : " This opposition is constitutional and 
legal ; it is also conscientious. It rests on settled and 
sober conviction that such policy is destructive to the 
interests of the people and dangerous to the being of 
government. The experience of every day confirms 

* James Ilillhouse served in the American cause during the 
Revolution. He was a United States Senator from Connecticut 
from 1796 to 1810, and treasurer of Yale College from 1782 till 
■\his death in 1832. 



100 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

these sentiments. Men who act from such motives 
are not to be discouraged by trifling obstacles, nor 
awed by any dangers. They know the limit of con- 
stitutional opposition ; up to that limit, at their own 
discretion, they will walk, and walk fearlessly." How 
" the being of government " was to be endangered by 
"constitutional opposition " to the Embargo, I leave 
to the gentleman to explain. 

Thus it will be seen, Mr. President, that the South 
Carolina doctrine is the republican doctrine of '98 ; 
that it was promidgated by the fathers of the faith ; 
that it was maintained by Virginia and Kentucky in 
the worst of times ; that it constituted the very pivot 
on which the political revolution of that day turned ; 
that it embraces the very principles the triumph of 
which, at that time, saved the Constitution at its last 
gasp, and which New England statesmen were not 
unwilling to adopt when they believed themselves to 
be the victims of unconstitutional legislation. Sir, as 
to the doctrine that the federal government is the 
exclusive jndge of the extent as well as the limitations 
of its powers, it seems to me to be uttei'ly subversive 
of the sovereignty and independence of the States. It 
makes but little difference, in my ostituation, whether 
Congress or the Supreme Court are invested witli this 
power. If the federal government, in .11 or any of 
its departinents, is to prescribe the limit ^ of its own 
authority, and the States are bound to suomit to the 
decision, and are not to be allowed to examine and 
decide for themselves when the bai'riers of the Con- 
stitution shall bo overleaped, this is practically " a 
government without limitation of powers." The 
States are at once reduced to mere petty corpora- 



r 



I 



SPEKcU of MR. HAYNE. 101 



tions, and the people are entirely at your mercy. I 
have but one word moi-e to add. In all the efforts 
that have been made by South Carolina to resist the 
unconstitutional laws which Congress has extended 
over them, she has kept steadily in view the jneserva- 
tion of the Union by the only means by which she 
believes it can be long preserved, — a firm, manly, and 
steady resistance against usurpation. The measures 
of the federal government have, it is true, prostrated 
her interests, and will soon involve the whole South 
in irretrievable ruin. But even this evil, great as it 
is, is not the chief ground of our complaints. It is 
the principle involved in the contest, a principle which, 
substituting the discretion of Congress for the limita- 
tions of the Constitution, brings the States and the 
people to the feet of the federal government, and 
leaves them nothing they can call their own. Sir, if 
the measures of the federal government were less op- 
pressive, we should still strive against this usurpation. 
The South is acting on a principle she has always held 
sacred, — resistance to unauthorized taxation. These, 
sir, ai-e the principles which induced the innnortal 
Hampden to resist the i)ayment of a tax of twenty 
shillings. " Would twenty shillings have ruined his 
fortune ? No ! but the payment of half twenty shil- 
lings, on the princi))le on which it was demanded, w^ould 
have made him a slave." ^ Sir, if, acting on these high 
motives, — if, animated by that ardent love of liberty 
which has always been the most ]iromincnt trait in 
e Southern character, — we should be luirricd beyond 
h bounds of a cold and calculating prudence, who is 
/there, with one noble and generous sentiment in his 
1 Burke's speech on American taxation, April 19, 1774. 



102 THE GREAT DEBATE. 

bosom, that would not be disposed, in the languag. 

of Burke, to exclaim, " You must pardon something 

to the spirit of liberty " ? ^ 

^ " I pardon something to the spirit of liberty." From Burke's 
Conciliation with the Colonies. (See Riverside Literature Series, 
No. 100, p. 19.) 



<; 



H 



1 



Cl^e ISftemtje Ittcraturc ^enc0» 

(Ccnilhiued.) 

Each regular single number, paper, 15 cents. 

67. Dickens's Christmas Carol.** 

58. Dickens's Cricket on the Hearth.** 

.'51). Verse and Prose for Beginners in Reading.*" 

(H), til. The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers. In two parts. J 

()2. John Fiske's War of Independence. § 

(W. Longfellow's Paul Revere's Ride, and Other Poems.** 

04, Go, till. Tales from Shakespeare. Rlited by L'iiaki.es and Mary 

Lamb. In tliree i)arts. [ALso, in one volume, liuen, 50 cents.] 
((7. Shakespeare's Julius Cse.sar.* ** 
GS. Goldsmith's Deserted Village, The Traveller, etc.* 

69. Hawthorne's Old Manse, and A Pew Mosses.** 

70. A Selection from Whittier's Child Life in Poetry.** 

71. A Selection from "Whittier's Child Life in Prose.** 

TI. Milton's L'AUegro, II Penseroso, Comus, Lycidas, etc.** 

73. Tennyson's Enoch Arden, and Other Poems. 

74. Gray's Elegy, etc.; Cowper's John Gilpin, etc. 

75. Scudder's George Washington. § 

7G. Wordsworth's On the Intimations of Immortality, etc. 

77. Burns's Cotter's Saturday Night, and Other Poems. 

78. Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield. § 

79. Lamb's Old China, and Other Essays of Elia. 

80. Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and Other Poems; 

Campbell's Lochiel's Warning, and Other Poems.* 

81. Holmes's Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table. (Triple Number, 4t 

cents; linen, ,'>() cents.) 

82. Hawthorne's Twice-Told Tales. §§ 
&$. George Eliot's Silas Marner.§ 

84. Dana's Two Years Before the Mast.§§ 

85. Hughes's Tom Brown's School Day8.§§ 
8fi. Scott's Ivanhoe.§§ 

87. Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. §§ 

88. Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. §5 

89. Swift's Gulliver's Voyage to Lilliput.** 

90. Swift's Gulliver's Voyage to Brobdingnag.** 

Also, bound in linen : * '1T> cents. •* 11 .ami C^, in one rol.,40 cents; llkewioo 44 
and li'J, 5j .in«l C.7, .57 and 5S, TO .ind 71. "J ami IH, 8'.) ami 90. X Also in one vol., 40 
•enta. § Double Number, p:iper, 30 cents ; linen, 40 cents. §§ Quadruple Number, 
paper, oO cents ; liueu, GO ceats. 

KXTRA NUMBERS. 

A American Authors and Their Birthdays. Prosrammes .ind Sugges- 
tions for tlie Celebration of the Birthdays of Autliors. J{y A. S. Roe. 
J? Portraits and Biographies of 20 American Authors. 
C A Longfellow Night. For Catholic ycbools and Societies. 
X> Literature in School. Essays by Hokack E. Scuddek. 
E Harriet Beecher Stowe. DialoKiiP.s and Scenes. 

F Longfellow Leaflets. (Each a Double Number, .?<? cent.f ; linen, 

G W^hittier Leaflets. 40 nnts.) Poems and Prose Passu^^es 

II Holmes Leaflets. for Reading and liecitation. 

Lowell Leaflets. 

1 The Riverside Manual for Teachers, cnntiininff .SnErpestions and 

Ilhiitrative Lessons leailiiin np to Primary IJeadini;. Hv L F. Hall. 

K The Riverside Primer and Reader. iSprcint Number.) In paper 

cover.s, with rlotli back, i'l cents ; in .strong linen hindine, 30 cents. 

L The Riverside Song Book. Contjiinintr 120 Cl.ussic American Poems 

s»'t to Stindar.i Music. ( Double Aumlter, .'iO rents ; bfxirit.t, 40 cnits.) 

M Lowell's Fable for Critics. {Double Number, 30 rents.) 
N Selections from the Writings of Eleven American Authors t Insti- 
tute JS' umber.) 



109 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

'I III 



Cl^e lSit)cr0itic Litcrat 

(Continued.) 
Each regular single number, pc 001 931 694 4 ^ 

Recent Issues. 

91. Hawthorne's House of the Seven Gables. §§ 

92. Burrougha's A Bunch of Herbs, and Other Papers. 

93. Shakespeare's As You Like It.*** 

94. MUton's Paradise Lost. Books I.-III.** 

95. 9(>, 97, 98. Cooper's Last of the Mohicans. In four parts. 

(The four paiis also hound In one roliune, liuni. (iO cents.) 
99. Tennyson's Coming of Arthur, and Other Idylls of the Eling. 

100. Burke's Conciliation with the Colonies. Edited by Kobeut An- 

DEHSEN, A. M.* 

101. Homer's lUad. Books I., VI., XXII., and XXIV. Translated 

by Alexander Pope.* 

102. Macaulay's Essays on Johnson and Goldsmith.* 

103. Macaulay's Essay on Milton.* 

104. Macaulay's Life and "Writings of Addison.* 

Nos. 102, lOu, ami 101 are inlited by William P. Trent. 

105. Carlyle's Essay on Burns. Edited by Gkoroe R. Notes.* 

106. Shakespeare's Macbeth. Edited by Richard Grant White, and 

furnished with AdditioiuU Notes by Helen Grat Cone.* *• 

107. 108. Grimms' German Household Tales. With Notes. In two 

parts. {T/ie /no piiil.'t also bound in our, volume, linen. 40 cents.) 

109. Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. Edited by William "\'ai-ghn Moody.§ 

110. De Quincey's Flight of a Tartar Tribe. Edited by Milton 

Haight Turk. With an Introduction, Notes, and Map.* 

111. Tennyson's Princess. Edited by W. J. Rolfe. With copious Notes 

and numerous Illustrations. {Double Number, 30 cents. Also, in Rol/e's i<tu- 
dents^ Seriex, cloth, to I'edcher.t. ,~>3 cent.-;.) 

112. Virgil's -ffineid. Books I.-III. Translated by Christopher Pe.\rse 

Cranch. With an Introduction and Note.s. 

113. Poems from the "Writings of Kalph "Waldo Emerson. Edited, 

with an Introduction and Notes, by Geokgk H. Bkownk.'*''^ 

114. Old Greek Polk Stories. Told Anew by JosF.rHiNE Preston 

Peabody. With an Index of Mythologj'. Supplementary to Nos. 17 and 18, 
•22 and 2;?.« 

115. Browning's Pied Piper of Hamelin, and Other Poems. 

116. Shakespeare's Hamlet. Edited by KiCH.VRn (iit^vNT White, and 

furnished with .Additional Notes by HelI^n- Gray Conk. § 

117. 118. Stories from the Arabian Wights. With an Introductorj' Note. 

(The livo partx «/.'0 bound in one roluine, linen, 40 crnl/:.) 

119. Poe's Raven, The Fall of the House of Usher, and Other 

Poems and Talcs. With :in Introduction and Notes.** 

120. Poe's Gold-Bug, and Other Tales. Witli Notes.** 

Noa. 110, I'.'O are edited by William P. Trent. 

121. The Great Debate between Hayne and Webster : Hayne's Speech. 

With Introductions and Notes.** ^^ 

122. The Great Debate between Hayne and "Webster: "Webster's 

Reply to Hayne. AVitli Introductions and Notes.** 
NoH. I'M, 122, arc edited by Linhsay Swift. 
12.5. Lowell's Democracy, and Other Essays.^* 

ANo, bound in linen : *'J.' cents. *' ."0 and 123 in one vol.. 40 cents; likewise 72 
and ;>!. iiiJ and HH;, 113 and 42, ll'.i and 120, 121 and 122. $ Double number, paper, 30 
cents. Itneo, 40 cents. §§ Quadruple number, paper, 50 cents; linen, 60 cents. 



HOUGHTON, MIFFLIX .VXD COMPANY. 



Hollinger 

pH8.5 

Mill Run F3-1 955 



